Lakers News: Darvin Ham Talks Rui Hachimura Benching, Listless Effort In Loss To Bulls

LA's first-year head coach shed some light on the defeat.

On Sunday, your Los Angeles Lakers fumbled away a matinee game against the visiting Chicago Bulls. LA almost rallied totally back from a 20-point first-half deficit, before ultimately falling apart again the contest's fourth quarter. Ultimately, Patrick Beverley's Bulls won out, 118-108.

Head coach Darvin Ham took to the postgame podium to explain how this one got away from them.

Darvin Ham credits the bulls, talks about the rotation, and LeBron's return. 📺 pic.twitter.com/oqY7jh5YsR

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) March 26, 2023

"My hat's off to the Chicago Bulls," Ham reflected. "They're sort of fight to get in position like we are... But they came out with a sense of urgency tonight, and we came out a little flat, turned the ball over early."

"We weren't aggressive enough, physical enough," Ham continued. "I thought they [the Bulls] were great defensively on that side. Offensively they played physical and they made shots. But at the end of the day, nobody's going to feel sorry for you. We let one slip here at home, finished up 3-2 on this home stand. But now we've got to shift gears, go back look at the film, put the film together, and see how we can start this upcoming road trip out on the right foot."

When asked about his nine-man rotation Sunday (Rui Hachimura was squeezed out), Ham was candid.

"I mean there's not enough minutes for everyone," Ham explained. "You know, Lonnie's [been] going through that the last several games. When you have a lot of good players, through no fault of their own, someone's going to be left out of the rotation."

Hachimura, as we've established, will be a restricted free agent this summer, and one to whom LA had previously been considered likely to tender a deal in the neighborhood of $13 million annually. If he's a healthy scratch down the season's home stretch, though, how much will he realistically expect to make?

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