Darvin Ham Believes He Deserved Lakers Contract Extension Instead of Firing

The Milwaukee Bucks assistant was recently asked about his Lakers tenure.

Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham believes he deserved a contract extension rather than a dismissal from the Los Angeles Lakers. / Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images

Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham is fresh off an NBA Cup title after the Bucks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night in Las Vegas to win the league's in-season tournament.

Ham is experiencing plenty of success lately as a part of Doc Rivers's staff for the surging Bucks, but that doesn't mean he has forgotten about his tenure as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Ham was fired following the Lakers' postseason loss last season at the hands of the Denver Nuggets. Despite a conference finals berth to his name, and another playoff appearance to boot, Ham was let go. But he believes that he deserved an extension, he told Marc Spears of Andscape.

"To do as well as I did, I swear to God, anywhere else I'm probably looking at an extension with what I did," Ham said. "I'm not talking about feelings. I'm talking actual facts. They go from not making it to the playoffs to the final four in the NBA, the conference finals. And then you win the in-season tournament, navigate through all the injuries and win both your play-in games to get to the playoffs. People always talk about us losing to Denver, but they never talk about how we got to Denver. We beat a kick-ass young squad in Memphis and we beat Golden State."

Ham went 90-74 in his two seasons as head coach, but held a 9-12 record in the playoffs en route to his dismissal.

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