Lakers’ Issues Loom Large As ‘Disconnect’ Between Darvin Ham, Players Intensifies, per Report

Things seem to be trending in the wrong direction for Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Lakers remain unable to find their footing as the 2023–24 NBA season winds on. After an impressive run in the inaugural NBA in-season tournament, ultimately winning the title, the team has failed to parlay that success into victories and continues to float right around the .500 mark.

After the 110–96 loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday night, complete with LeBron James leaving the arena without speaking to reporters, an additional report came to light by The Athletic’s Shams Charania, detailing a “disconnect” between coach Darvin Ham and the team.

There’s currently a deepening disconnect between Darvin Ham and the Lakers locker room, six sources with direct knowledge of the situation say, raising questions about the head coach’s standing. The people spoke with The Athletic on condition of anonymity so that they could speak freely on the matter. Those sources have described that the disjointedness between the coach and team has stemmed from the extreme rotation and starting lineup adjustments recently from Ham, leading to a fluctuating rhythm for several players across the roster.

Charania’s new report in ‘The Athletic’ casts some doubt on Ham’s handling of the Lakers this season / Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

The Lakers opted to use their 10th starting lineup of the regular season thus far, which featured Austin Reaves at point guard in place of an injured D’Angelo Russell. Charania reports that the constant lineup changes have caused concerns about finding consistency.

It’s a concerning report considering how much praise came in Ham’s direction prior to the season and after he led the team to the Western Conference finals last year. The Lakers do have time to right the ship and get things turned around, but the product they put on the court has to be far better than it’s been during the recent stretch, as they’ve won just three of 12 games following Wednesday’s defeat.