Darvin Ham, who was Mike Budenholzer’s assistant in Milwaukee for the past four seasons, with a championship title at stake in 2021, has been chosen by the Lakers to become their new coach, ESPN and The Athletic report on Friday. LA superstar LeBron James did not wait for the formalization of this appointment to welcome the arrival of his new coach. “So EXCITED!!!!!!!! Congratulations and welcome to Coach DHam!“, he tweeted.
Ham lands the most coveted job of the NBA offseason, since the sacking of Frank Vogel, who failed to lead the Lakers to the playoffs, after a regular season marred by injuries to Anthony Davis and LeBron James , as well as the failed recruitment of Russell Westbrook. He who had never yet been at the head of a team, he was not however the most experienced of the candidates, facing the former head coaches who were Terry Stotts in Portland, Kenny Atkinson in Brooklyn or Mark Jackson in Golden State.
Aged 48, Ham was an NBA player for eight seasons, notably winning a ring in 2004 with the Detroit Pistons, of which he was a substitute. His first experience as a coach in the league started in 2011, with the … Lakers. During two rather tormented seasons in LA, he was successively the assistant of Mike Brown, Bernie Bickerstaff and Mike D’Antoni. Whereupon he went to reinforce the staff of Mike Budenholzer then coach of Atlanta (2013-2018), who kept him by going to the Bucks, with the success that we know.