Lakers News: Darvin Ham Refuses To Back Down Against Michael Malone Even After Defeat

Ham wants all the smoke!

The Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets have a mini rivalry brewing after the two teams met in the Western Conference Finals for the second time in four seasons. Both teams won a series, but it was what was said after Denver won that really started to fuel everything. 

Weirdly, it wasn’t the players that said anything but instead Nuggets head coach Michael Malone. He made multiple comments about the Lakers, star LeBron James potential retirement and then at the Nuggets parade, someone dubbed him the “Lakers daddy” with Malone not refuting it and just enjoying the moment.

It was very strange energy from Malone as he took his frustrations on the media talking more about the Lakers than his own team out. Obviously, Denver beat LA but his anger towards the franchise seems very unwarranted and while he may not like it, the Lakers are the biggest show in the NBA.

However, on a recent episode of the #thisleague UNCUT podcast with insiders Marc Stein and Chris Hayes, Lakers head coach Darvin Ham addressed some of the things Malone said. It seems that Ham wants all the smoke for next season and it seems very in line to what James said shortly after the season ended on his Instagram. 

Darvin Ham’s response to Michael Malone being dubbed the Lakers’ “daddy” 😅

(via @ChrisBHaynes, @TheSteinLine) pic.twitter.com/2qrcrFmP52

— Ball Don’t Lie (@Balldontlie) July 13, 2023

It seems that the entire team heard the comments from Malone and are ready for next season. That should motivate them to want to get better on top of their motives already. 

Ham is the guy leading the charge and clearly he is fired up about this. It's great that he added in some trash talk of his own because that now makes this even more fun!

Whenever the Lakers and Nuggets do meet next season, it should be fireworks. And if we as basketball fans are lucky enough, maybe the two teams will meet again in the Western Conference Finals!

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