The Los Angeles Lakers are still alive! On Saturday night, the Lakers staved off elimination, winning Game 4 and forcing a Game 5 against the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2024 NBA playoffs. The Lakers will live to fight another day, earning a victory, 119-108.
Now, Los Angeles will travel back to the Mile High City and look to extend this series and force a Game 6. The Lakers’ chances of doing so are slim, and their chances of winning the series at this moment are slim to none. However, if the Lakers can’t extend their season past Monday, it may spell trouble for head coach Darvin Ham.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Ham may be in the hot seat if the Lakers lose the series in five games. Wojnarowski said this on ESPN’s NBA Countdown before Game 4.
“If you are a head coach of the Lakers and you get swept in the first round of the playoffs, or you lose in five, you’ve got job issues. You’ve got job security issues,” Wojnarowski said. “And Darvin Ham will have that.”
If the Lakers lose on Monday and fire Ham, the purple and gold will be looking for their fifth head coach in a decade. On paper, this potential firing seems like an outrage as Ham has led LA to a 90-74 record, winning 54% of his games. Ham has led LA to two consecutive postseason appearances, including a Western Conference Finals appearance as a seventh seed in 2023. However, those who follow the team closely know Ham is not the reason why this team has had great success.
The Lakers have underachieved in the past two seasons, especially in 2023-2024. LA possibly had the best offseason of any team, adding players who looked like they’d complement the superstar duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The team kept players who fit that bill and things were looking up for the purple and gold; however, Ham got in his own way. Due to poor coaching decisions, not playing the right players, and not putting players in a position to succeed, the Lakers underperformed. He got away from what worked for LA in last year’s playoffs, resulting in the Lakers having to fight for a play-in position.
In Ham’s defense, injuries hurt the team tremendously, but when you combine his poor decision with the injuries, you had the Lakers trying to dig themselves out of a giant hole. It’s not entirely Ham’s fault, but if we were issuing a blame pie, it’s at least 30 or 40 percent.
Regardless of what happens, the Lakers brass have seemingly already made up their mind. We’ll need to wait and see if owner Jeanie Buss and company pull the trigger.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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