Top candidates emerge to replace Los Angeles’ Darvin Ham

Now former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham has been fired, after just two seasons at the helm. He led the club to a Western Conference Finals appearance and two playoff berths while dealing with significant roster turnover.

Is Los Angeles’ failure really Ham’s fault, or is it the fault of the front office that dealt several key pieces of its championship core in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma (plus Montrezl Harrell and a draft pick) to the Washington Wizards to get the vacuum? -out of Russell Westbrook, while also deciding to let now two-time All-Defensive Team member Alex Caruso go in favor of raw project Talen Horton-Tucker, who himself is long gone from the Lakers.

Midway through the Hams’ first season, team president Rob Pelinka managed to move away from Westbrook with some smart moves, but the club hasn’t been able to recapture the magic of that 2019-20 lineup filled with shifting, defense-first players. .

Now, Ham is gone, and the Lakers are pursuing several fairly familiar head coaching candidates, none of whom will really be able to improve Los Angeles’ roster. That’s Rob Pelinka’s job and he will need to operate cautiously this summer.

Sources tell Shams Charania and Jovan Buha of The Athletic that the team’s top three preferred candidates are former Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer, who led the Bucks to the title in 2021; Golden State Warriors assistant coach (and former Brooklyn Nets head coach) Kenny Atkinson, who won a championship with the Dubs in 2022; and Los Angeles All-Star LeBron James’ “Mind The Game” podcast co-host JJ Redick, who has no coaching experience of any kind.

Charania and Buha add that LA Clippers head coach Ty Lue and Boston Celtics head coach Charles Lee are also being considered.

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