Lakers News: Darvin Ham Discusses Team's Preseason, Injuries

Ham expressed optimism that the club would be mostly healthy next week.

New Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham spoke with gathered reporters after the team wrapped up its 2022 preseason with a 133-86 blowout loss to the Sacramento Kings on Friday.

Los Angeles finished with an uninspiring 1-5 preseason record, but of course that result stems in large part from the fact that the team didn't play its best players in several games, or in much of the second half minutes of those contests.

Ham acknowledged that health issues have impeded the team's flow, but expressed optimism that his squad would be mostly healthy heading into the regular season next week. He noted that two of the club's best playmakers, guards Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schröder, are grappling with relatively fresh injuries that do not currently have definitive recovery timetables.

Darvin Ham assesses the #Lakers' preseason and the struggles of not having the whole squad due to injuries. pic.twitter.com/xvCIRekcpJ

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) October 15, 2022

Westbrook exited the Kings game last night with a hamstring injury, but apparently the 6'3" veteran point guard doesn't seem too worried about any long-term issues. "He told me he thought he'd be fine, but again we'll re-evaluate him in the morning," Ham revealed.

Ham stressed that health issues have been something of a hurdle for the club when it came to implementing his fresh system of play.

"The biggest thing for us is to get whole, for us to have our guys available and ready to compete going into the regular season... Opening night, we'll have [Anthony Davis], we'll have Lonnie [Walker IV], [LeBron James... [Patrick Beverley], it's unfortunate Russ tweaked his hammy tonight... Dennis obviously has the issue with his thumb... I really feel like we've made some really good strides and improvement in our new system offensively and defensively."

Los Angeles kicks off its regular season Tuesday, in an opening night contest against the Golden State Warriors, the current reigning league champions.