Lakers News: How Darvin Ham Feels About Thomas Bryant's Big Second Half Last Night

Bryant was one of the club's key contributors against Denver.

When your Los Angeles Lakers first signed veteran centers Damian Jones and Thomas Bryant, it appeared that Jones, not Bryant, would earn the initial starting nod at the five spot. First-year L.A. head coach Darvin Ham's hand was forced when Bryant tore his UCL in his thumb and was sidelined for the first month of the 2022-23 season as he recovered from surgery. Jones wound up coming off the bench when Ham elected to shift Anthony Davis up to center.

Jones thoroughly underwhelmed in his spot minutes, and eventually became a "break glass in case of emergency" deep-bench piece, falling out of the team's frontcourt bench rotation behind both Bryant and power forward/center Wenyen Gabriel when everyone was healthy.

Since Bryant's return last month, it has been obvious that he is indeed the better fit for this roster. He proved that again tonight, earning starting honors in the second half of last night's 126-108 win over the Denver Nuggets after Anthony Davis departed the game for good with a right foot injury at the conclusion of the first half.

Bryant had a huge game for L.A., scoring 21 points (second only to LeBron James's team-high 30) on 9-of-11 shooting from the floor and 2-of-4 shooting from the charity stripe, grabbing six rebounds, snagging two steals and passing for one assist.

Ham chatted with gathered media after the big win, talking about the team's cumulative performance before segueing to more concentrated praise of Bryant.

Darvin Ham on @nolimittb31's performance, the #Lakers execution down the stretch and an update on Anthony Davis. pic.twitter.com/t7gRPt8q2S

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) December 17, 2022

"The second half came, [we] got the news about AD and then Thomas, my hat's off to him," Ham said. "You know, he's a pro's pro. Keeps himself ready, keeps himself right. That's why we have play groups, stay-ready groups for guys, low-minute or no-minute guys, to continue to stay sharp. And he did that. He came out and he had a really really huge effort against a two-time MVP and then really helped us on both sides of the basketball. Just his energy and activity, his no-quit mentality, I mean we needed that. He was a huge burst for us."