Doc Rivers Goes Off On Lakers For Firing Darvin Ham

The Los Angeles Lakers decided to get rid of Darvin Ham after a disappointing conclusion to the 2023-24 NBA season.

Nobody seemed to like him much as far as current Lakers go. D’Angelo Russell had issues with him. Ditto for Austin Reaves. And ditto for LeBron James.

After his time in L.A. came to an end, Ham went back to the Milwaukee Bucks to serve as an assistant under Doc Rivers.

This week, Rivers offered a passionate defense of Ham’s time in Los Angeles.

“It’s been great,” Rivers said of his experience with Ham thus far.

“First of all, he’s been here even longer than me. He knows things that I didn’t know. He has relationships with the players. Another guy that can trust,” Rivers continued.

“Trust is so important for players. And more importantly, he deserves it. I’m not going to get into the whole thing that happened there, but he took a team to a Western Finals, and then the following year, he won the in-season tournament, which they say we should have a lot of value on, and then they release him.

“It literally makes no sense, but it happens. It happens to all of us. It’s part of what we do. But Darvin Ham’s a coach, he should be on the sidelines, and I wanted him next to me.”

Is Rivers right about Ham? Will the Lakers rue the day they got rid of him? Time will tell.

Anthony Amador

A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school Games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.