The Los Angeles Lakers have not enjoyed the amazing season they had hoped for. After reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2023, the Lakers had great expectations.
Sure, star forward LeBron James was growing older, but re-signing D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves, as well as bringing in Christian Wood, were intended to put the Lakers in a strong position to challenge for another NBA title. The Lakers started the season strong, winning the first-ever in-season tournament. However, as the season went, their record began to decline.
The Lakers have gone 10-16 since their in-season tournament finals victory against the Indiana Pacers, bringing their overall record to 24-25, which is less than.500. The Lakers are still in contention for the play-in tournament if the season ends today, but they are not looking as good as they had planned.
Much of their problems have been blamed on head coach Darvin Ham. Although Ham helped lead the team to the WCF just a season ago, the assumption is that he has lost the locker room, and footage like this from their game against the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 30 does not help his cause.
My personal favorite, Lebron’s face while Darvin Ham draws up a play 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/USYXZQIExu
— Denver (@doubledworth) January 31, 2024
Darvin Ham in the Lakers’ locker room
Despite having a winning record as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, Ham does not appear to be popular among his players. Aside from the James footage, there have been instances where players have quietly jabbed at Hammers.
Most recently, backup center Christian Wood allegedly subtweeted Ham ahead of the team’s game versus Atlanta. With the team’s starting center, Anthony Davis, sidelined for the game, it would have made sense for Ham to start Wood. After all, Wood was brought in to help elevate the club as a bench player, but with Davis out, he should have received more minutes.
Lol
— 35 (@Chriswood_5) January 31, 2024
Wood was not named starter, however. Ham chose Jaxson Hayes instead. Just twenty minutes before the game, Wood tweeted a simple “Lol.”
Wood has now stated that the tweet had nothing to do with Ham, claiming his own “bad tweeter” status as the explanation for the timing.
Christian Wood’s explanation of his “lol” tweet shortly before the Lakers tipped off against the Hawks tonight: pic.twitter.com/yQRtnD3J1F
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 31, 2024
Wood states that he was attempting to quote tweet something with this tweet, but did not have the phrase ready and simply clicked send before realizing his error. However, the “Lol” tweet has not been deleted, and Wood has not explained what he was attempting to cite.
Other reports of locker room dysfunction have surfaced as well. For example, after losing to the Miami Heat on January 3, Ham told reporters that the Lakers “can’t find any consistency until we get healthy.” This statement occurred after the Lakers fell to a Heat team missing their star player, Jimmy Butler. Clearly, the Heat had no issue maintaining consistency even without their top players. Constant changes in starting lineups, poorly timed media pronouncements, and overall poor play by the Lakers have all contributed to the anti-Ham vitriol.
LeBron James’ History of Discontent
LeBron is no stranger to criticizing his head coaches during games. During the 2018 NBA Finals, LeBron famously held his head in his hands after learning that head coach Tyronn Lue had not used a timeout that could have secured a victory for the Cleveland Cavs.
LeBron’s visibly distraught after Ty Lue told him Cavs had a timeout left at the end of Game 1
🎥: https://t.co/TJodZTnT8F pic.twitter.com/RztlHGuUby
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 4, 2018
Rumors also suggest that LeBron James once asked Pat Riley about a coaching comeback while Erik Spoelstra was the Heat’s coach.
Ironically, the Lakers aren’t the only purple and gold team that has their biggest star perplexed by their head coach’s play calls right now. Just a day before the LeBron incident, LSU women’s basketball player Hailey Van Lith expressed similar confusion about head coach Kim Mulkey’s play call versus Mississippi State.
The confusion on HVL face, says it all 😂 😂.. pic.twitter.com/1ETyPLAxGP
— Explosive_elites (@ExplosiveElites) January 30, 2024
