Last week, the Los Angeles Lakers made a big decision when it was revealed that they would be firing not only head coach Darvin Ham but also the entirety of their 2023-24 coaching staff, including Phil Handy, who had garnered a reputation as a favorite of both fans and players during his Los Angeles tenure. Ham once again struggled to call timeouts at opportune times and put together sensible lineups during the Lakers' second straight postseason loss to the Denver Nuggets, although that didn't stop some from once again bringing out the “coach killer” label for LeBron James after the news was broken.
The Lakers are now in the midst of trying to find the next head coach to guide their franchise, and some names that have been thrown around include former Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer and podcaster JJ Redick. It probably goes without saying that when LeBron James is on your team, the kid from Akron is going to play a pretty significant role in basically every organizational decision, but ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst recently disputed this notion during an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show.
“LeBron doesn't get involved in coaching hires, for years for many many coaches he's always taken a distance,” said Windhorst, per Dan Patrick Show on YouTube. “In fact, and I can't say this for every candidate, but he generally has a rule that he won't engage with the candidate. After the coach has been hired of course he'll have a conversation with the coach generally he wants to stay out of it, he doesn't want it on his hands. I know there's this belief that LeBron hires and fires all these coaches, and maybe he does like hurt coaches because he sort of kills them with a thousand paper cuts. But LeBron is very sensitive to that, and he does not want to be involved in that. So it's not going to be like he's going to go into Rob Pelinka and say hey I'm having a great time with JJ you should hire him that's just not reality.”
Where do the Lakers go from here?
Two things can be true at once: Darvin Ham did not come close to maximizing what he had in the Lakers' locker room over his tenure in Los Angeles, and what the Lakers did have in the locker room was probably not enough to compete for an NBA championship.
In order to truly contend and get LeBron James his fifth NBA championship, the Lakers will need to bring in more size and perimeter scoring, two needs which were thoroughly exposed in the loss to the Nuggets (who are currently getting eviscerated by the Minnesota Timberwolves, which lets Lakers fans know that there are even more levels to climb beyond Denver).
Perhaps more concerning than anything is that the Lakers enjoyed very fortunate health throughout 2023-24, which would leave some to believe that their current roster can really only go downhill from here. In any case, big changes are likely on the way in Los Angeles.
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