Lakers: Charles Barkley Crushes LA for Hiring Darvin Ham as Head Coach
On the whole, it appears that most Lakers fans are pleased, or at least satisfied, with the Lakers decision to hire Darvin Ham as their next head coach. The hope is that taking a chance on a rookie head coach, rather than conservatively hiring a retread like Terry Stotts or Kenny Atkinson, will pay dividends next season.
However, not everyone is enthralled with the Lakers decision to hire Ham. Including, but not limited to, NBA Hall-of-Famer and TNT analyst Charles Barkley.
In a recent appearance on the Dan Patrick Show, Barkley explained why he thinks the Ham hire will do little to change the Lakers fortunes next season.
“Well I’m glad Darvin got an opportunity because he’s paid his dues. He’s a nice guy. We’ll have to see what kind of coach he is. But listen, if one of your coaches is close to the same age as your players, your team not gonna be any good anyway."
It's an...interesting quip from the ever-quipful Barkley since Ham, is the exact same age as Frank Vogel (48). Last time we checked, Vogel did win a championship despite his age being "close" to some of his players.
Barkley continued to cite age as a reason why the Lakers won't be much of a threat for a title next season, and beyond.
"The Lakers, they got a serious dilemma on their hands. Their best player’s gonna be 40. Anthony Davis has never been healthy. Obviously, Russ is gonna be there one more year, so what’s really bad about the situation — next year is gonna be the same as this year. And then LeBron just gonna be a year older, and then they’ll have Russ off the books.”
At the end of the day, the Lakers hired who they believe will help the team drastically outperform their putrid 2021-2022 season and possibly help shepherd the team through the post-LeBron era.
