The Los Angeles Lakers have officially hired former Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham as their new head coach. In fact, this can be regarded as Ham’s return to the nest – Ham once served as a player development coach for the Lakers from 2011 to 2013, and he became a member of Mike Brown’s coaching team through the help of a friend.
After leaving the Lakers, Ham moved on to the Atlanta Hawks as an assistant coach when Mike Budenholzer personally recruited him. The two met at the 2013 NBA championship game, and fate has since bonded the two together, building a deep bond, even when Budenholzer parted ways with the Hawks to take over as head coach of the Bucks. First assistant coach revealed to be going after Budenholzer. Ham has said that Budenholzer will give him a lot of responsibilities, allow him room to play, and have a voice in the team, and he certainly thrives under Budenholzer’s system.
Ham has been one of the targets that NBA teams will consider when changing head coaches since 2020, such as the Oklahoma City Thunder, New Orleans Pelicans, Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers and so on. In fact, when Budenholzer left the Hawks, it was rumored that Ham would take over as the new head coach of the Hawks.
As a product of Budenholzer’s system, especially Ham is also Budenholzer’s favored assistant coach, Ham will one day become the head coach, which seems to be a sure thing. After all, Budenholzer has continuously cultivated Quinn Snyder, Taylor Jenkins and other successful examples in the past. In fact, Budenholzer does have a lot of praise for Ham.
“It’s hard to put into words what Darvin (Ham’s name) can bring, but he’s incredibly important to me, to our players. We want to be stronger, and There’s no one stronger than Darvin. He has a deep sense of the game. He’s special.”Budenholzer said so in a 2020 interview.
Over the years, players on both the Hawks and Bucks have had good reviews of Ham, and he has maintained a pretty good relationship with the players. Ham has played in the NBA, tried to lose the draft, and then worked his way up from the bottom to become a role player and survive in the NBA. The pinnacle of his playing career was tied to the Lakers—the Detroit Pistons’ 2004 Detroit Pistons’ classic victory over the Lakers featured Ham in helping the Pistons win the championship. With such a blue-collar background, Ham knows how to maintain communication with the players. Having studied next to Brown and Budenholzer successively, Ham has a wealth of experience in command, response and formation from the sidelines.
“What I’ve learned in the NBA is that it’s important to be patient.”Ham once said.“Of course, I would love to be a head coach in the NBA, but I’m learning every day as an assistant. You can’t be impatient. I’m still learning.”
Finally, this opportunity has finally come. The protagonist of “The Hammer Play” will be officially staged on the Lakers and will be his own coaching performance. Just as Ham cut, passed, and assisted his teammates on the perimeter many years ago in “The Hammer Play” to snip three-pointers, this time Ham will assist the Lakers and get back on the track for the championship.