The Los Angeles Lakers are hoping to bounce back in 2022-23 with a new head coach at the helm in Darvin Ham. He's already laid out his plan for Russell Westbrook, who is the subject of trade rumors as the Kyrie Irving rumblings continue.

But despite that, Ham made it clear: He is focused on simply improving each and every player on this roster, despite the trade talks. Via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:

“We love everyone on our roster,” Darvin Ham told reporters Friday at halftime of L.A.'s 104-84 summer league loss to the Phoenix Suns on Friday. “And until you're not on our roster, you're ours and we're going to try to get better with the group that we have. That's just the bottom line of it.

“I don't know a player that's come through this league in my 26 years that hasn't had their name part of a trade rumor a time or two. But, it is what it is. It's the nature of the beast of our business. And so, again, the guys we have on our roster I'm very thankful for, I'm proud of and we want to maximize everything they can do to help us get to that ultimate goal.”

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In fairness, Westbrook is about the only player linked to a trade right now on the Lakers roster. LA is reported to be interested in a Kyrie Irving-Russ swap, but nothing has come to fruition yet. Darvin Ham spoke earlier this week about how he's going to utilize Westbrook, who struggled to fit in in 2021-22 alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

There is a firm belief things might be the exact same next season if Russ stays put because of his unwillingness to change his role. We'll see if he's even a Laker by the time October rolls around. Nonetheless, Darvin Ham intends to work on making Westbrook and everyone else in this group better.