Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham addressed his uncertain future with the franchise after his second season in charge ended in the same fashion as the first: In a hard-fought series with the defending champion Denver Nuggets.

“It's been an unbelievable franchise to represent,” Ham said after the Lakers lost Game 5, 108-106, on Jamal Murray's second game-winner at Ball Area of the NBA Playoffs.

Ham signed a four-year contract with the Lakers when he was hired in May of 2022. In his first season, his Lakers turned a 2-10 start and the Russell Westbrook fiasco into a Western Conference Finals berth.

The Lakers (47-35) won four more games and the In-Season Tournament in Ham's second campaign, but a deeper conference kept them in the Play-In zone, resulting in an earlier clash with Denver.

“Couldn't ask for a better governor, a better president of ops. Rob Pelinka, Jeanie Buss,” Ham continued post-elimination. “I've seen a lot in my first two years in this seat. I'll continue to work, get better, and control what I can control.”

Ham's seat warmed in January as the Lakers dropped to 13th in the West. Questionable rotation decisions throughout December — especially bringing D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, and Rui Hachimura off the bench — reportedly hurt the Ham's standing in the locker room.

Once Ham straightened out the rotations, the Lakers finished with a 22-10 record and morphed into one of the most explosive offenses in basketball.

The early-season miscues, though, undoubtedly cost them a higher seed and friendlier first-round matchup.

In his postgame remarks on Monday, Ham repeatedly cited the injuries to rotation pieces — namely Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt — for preventing the Lakers from maximizing their potential.

“It seemed like every time we hit a rhythm, somebody, a key piece, would fall out of the lineup. It is what it is, man,” Ham said after the Game 5 defeat. “I’m not going to feel sorry for myself, for ourselves.”

Ham responded without hesitation when asked what the Lakers need to do next season to improve.

“Stay healthy. You take a lot of flak for your rotations … but rotations are secondary. Primary is health.”

In the aftermath of Murray's Game 2 dagger, Anthony Davis seemingly took a jab at the coaching staff when he admonished the Lakers for having “stretches when we don't know what we're doing on both ends of the floor.”

Ham responded by publicly disagreeing with his star. (AD was complimentary of the Lakers' schematic preparation for Game 5.)

 

Ham's future will be determined in the coming days. It's unclear how a competitive, five-game loss in the first round to the defending champions will impact the front office's evaluation.

“I think Darvin Ham is a hell of a coach,” Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said. “That’s not an easy job. I think Darvin does it with class. He’s a good man, good coach, and I wish him all the best. Hopefully, he’ll be around there for a long time because he deserves to be.”

About an hour after Ham's presser concluded — with player exit interviews already underway — the Athletic and ESPN reported that Ham's future is in peril.

“Sitting in this seat, it's been a hell of a two years,” said Ham. “A lot of good things that got done, but ultimately, you want to win that ultimate prize. I know what that feels like. I had that feeling a couple of times.

“So, you want to do everything in your power to not to prevent and continue to feel this feeling we're feeling now, the feeling of defeat. So again, control what I can control, continue to grow, and hopefully be a better coach for it.”

None of the Lakers players went out of their way to back their head coach after the finale — or any other game this season, for that matter.