Darvin Ham says he has support of Lakers brass – ‘We’re all aligned’

LOS ANGELES — With his team's record below .500 heading into the midseason, Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham responded Friday to speculation about his professional status by saying he continues to benefit from the support of franchise decision-makers.

“I'm solid,” Ham said before the Lakers lost 127-113 at home to the Memphis Grizzlies. “My governor, Jeanie Buss, the boss; our president, Robert Pelinka – we're all aligned. As long as they don't say it, I guess I'm fine. And I know what they think of me and the situation in which we currently find ourselves.

Friday night's loss was the Lakers' fourth in a row and dropped their record to 17-19, a half-game behind the 10th-place Golden State Warriors.

Ham said reports like Thursday's article in The Athletic, which cited anonymous sources saying there was a “growing disconnect” between the second-year coach and the Lakers locker room, “just came with the territory”.

However, Ham, who signed a four-year contract in May 2022 to replace Frank Vogel, disputed the nature of the reporting.

“It reminds me of when I was watching '60 Minutes' with my dad in the '80s. And on one show in particular, they were talking about La Cosa Nostra and the mafia and these guys were starting to get judged and their shows were star witnesses with a black potato sack on their head and sunglasses. And because of fear, the name can't really be released,” Ham said. “And so that seems to be the standard of reporting now for the NBA. People on the Internet and such.

“And not every journalist — I mean no disrespect to anyone in the room — but when you say the source is anonymous by choice and they don't want to put their name on something but they want give you the information and then you take the information and now everyone has the chance to dissect it and put it all out there in their own way, it's a little disingenuous. And I wish we would get to a place where people are firm enough to stand on what they're saying and then maybe we can have a real dialogue and get there.”

Ham, 50, added that he maintained a “high level” of communication with both Los Angeles captains – LeBron James and Anthony Davis – as the team went through a difficult period.

Since winning the first tournament of the NBA season last month, the Lakers have gone just 3-10, falling to 11th in the Western Conference standings.

For a team coming off a conference finals run, fielding two healthy members of the NBA's 75th anniversary team, James and Davis, and committing to the 10th highest payroll in the league, north of $168 million, expectations were high.

“I don’t mind people criticizing the work I do,” Ham continued. “All I'm going to do is keep my head down and keep doing my job until I can't do it anymore. And so just be solid with what you come up with and please , don't get involved with personal attacks either. So that's it, that's what I signed up for when I decided to become a coach and I was around great guys who handled it well and coaches who didn't handle it so oh well. But me? I'm tough, man. I've been through a ton of “ish” in my life and it's a walk in the park. Trust me .”

Ham said the team's struggles led him to “look internally and see what I could do better,” but also mentioned the injuries that affected the Lakers' season.

“It reminds me of when I was watching '60 Minutes' with my dad in the '80s. And on one show in particular, they were talking about La Cosa Nostra and the mafia and these guys were starting to get judged and their shows were star witnesses with a black potato sack on their head and sunglasses. And because of fear, the name can't really be released. And so this seems to be the standard of reporting now for the NBA .

Lakers coach Darvin Ham on report citing anonymous sources

Los Angeles had a third of its top-nine rotation in street clothes on Friday, with D'Angelo Russell (bruised tailbone), Rui Hachimura (left calf strain) and Gabe Vincent (left knee surgery) all out.

“Injuries are a real part of professional sports,” Ham said. “And our performance team, they bust their butts to make sure our players are available and able to play at a high level. But guys have physical issues sometimes… Playing our game, I think we “We have the best athletes in all sports all over the world – you're going to subject your body to some problems.”

The game against the Grizzlies on Friday was the second game of an 11-of-12 streak in Los Angeles for the Lakers.

“You gotta stay positive, man,” Ham said. “There's a loser mentality and there's a winner mentality. When you have a loser mentality, you just point out your mistakes, what's happening, what's wrong, and make excuses. When you have a winning mentality, you will identify a problem, analyze it, realize it and try to change it and take advantage of it so as not to make the same mistake twice and adjust yourself.