National Basketball Association

Is Darvin Ham's seat heating up amid Lakers' recent struggles?

Updated Jan. 31, 2024 1:41 p.m. ET

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The Los Angeles Lakers' frustrations with how their season has gone following their In-Season Tournament win might have hit a boiling point following their 138-122 loss to the Hawks on Tuesday night.

After the Purple and Gold's loss, LeBron James vented his disappointment to reporters over the Lakers' recent performance. He also might have done the same on social media, posting an hourglass emoji on X in the early hours of Wednesday, possibly implying that time is running out. 

"We could, on any given night, beat any team in the NBA. And then on any given night, we can get our ass kicked by any team in the NBA," James told reporters. "That's just the [facts]. What's our record? Under .500? What, 24-25? That's where we are."

That is, in fact, the Lakers' record. With Tuesday's loss, Los Angeles is just 10-15 since it won the In-Season Tournament in December. The Lakers have fallen in the Western Conference standings as a result, sitting in ninth place. They are only a half-game ahead of the Rockets from falling out of a play-in tournament spot.

With the Lakers sitting below .500 in late January for the second straight season, questions over head coach Darvin Ham's security have emerged. Reports of Ham's standing with the Lakers began to emerge in early January as the head coach constantly tweaked his starting lineup.

The Lakers stood by their head coach through the month, but some think it might be time to end the Ham era in the middle of Year 2. 

"It's starting to become too loud. It's starting to become too much," FOX Sports' Richard Sherman said on Wednesday's "Undisputed." "The things [Ham's] known for — being a motivator, a great defensive coach — are part of the things the Lakers are struggling with the most. I hate always going back to this … but I hate the Play-In effort because you gave such great effort then, and you showed what you're capable of, which makes every single loss and performance where they're underwhelming and underachieving even more frustrating. 

"It's frustrating as a fan to watch it because you saw what they could be and how great they could be."

Adding to the on-court struggles, Lakers big Christian Wood sent a bizarre social media post roughly 30 minutes before Tuesday's game, writing "lol" on X when it was revealed he wouldn't be starting despite Anthony Davis' absence. 

Wood told reporters after the game that he "meant to quote something" when he sent out that social media post.

"I thought I [quoted something] and I just pressed send, and I couldn't check my phone before because we have to go out [to the court]," Wood said. "But it was an accident. ... I looked at it just now. ... It came off a certain type of way. I didn't mean it that way.

"Not basketball related, definitely not basketball related."

Skip Bayless wasn't buying that excuse, though, believing it was a sign that Ham's losing the locker room.

"It came off as a sign of disrespect, like a mutinous sign of disrespect, for Darvin," Bayless said. "So, it feels like it's teetering upon that he's losing the team."

Time for Lakers to move on from Darvin Ham?

Keyshawn Johnson, however, believes that Ham shouldn't be fired, pointing to the lack of clear options available to make an in-season hire. He added that the Lakers' best shot at improving is getting better performances out of the supporting cast surrounding James and Davis. 

"When you look at it, this is the best situation, ride it through," Johnson said. "As far as LeBron and his tweet, all he's saying is that we are running out of time and we need to get going. … When you look at [James], as an individual, he can't carry every. Even though [Austin] Reaves had 28 points last night, everybody's got to chip in. Don't start to panic just yet."

Ham also seemed to call out the rest of the Lakers' roster following Tuesday's game, saying he wasn't using Davis' absence as an excuse for the loss.

"Having a back-to-back, no AD, it's different circumstances that you can use them as excuses, or you can say, ‘Hey, the whole league goes through it. We gotta look ourselves in the mirror and man the hell up,'" Ham said.

James was also pretty blunt when asked if he had a message for his teammates to get through the recent skid.

"I don't have any message for my teammates," James said. "Just go out and do your job."

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National Basketball Association

Los Angeles Lakers

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Skip Bayless

Keyshawn Johnson

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