On May 3, Darvin Ham was dismissed. the third Lakers head coach to be let go since LeBron James joined the team in 2018, following the firings of Frank Vogel in 2022 and Luke Walton in 2019.
Veteran analyst Michael Wilbon criticized the Lakers for firing Ham, who took the team to the Western Conference Finals in his first year as head coach in 2022-23.
“I’m angry. I’ve known Darvin Ham for a long time,” Wilbon said on the May 3 episode of “Pardon The Interruption” on ESPN. “He’s a great guy and a pretty good coach. He took a team that had done nothing the year before and missed the playoffs, and then last year they got to the conference finals with him and everyone had praise for him — including LeBron and Anthony Davis.”
“And now, all of a sudden, they — and I’m specifically talking to the two of them — blame him. Their public comments are not enough.”
Wilbon then urged James to take responsibility for Ham’s dismissal, especially if he wanted to cement himself as the greatest of all time in pro basketball. “If you [LeBron] want to be the GOAT, you want to tell everybody you’re the greatest player of all time… then take responsibility like one. Do that!”
Does LeBron James Deserve Blame?
Wilbon then pointed to
and Michael Jordan taking responsibility after their teams suffered disappointing playoff exits, urging James to exhibit a similar attitude rather than playing the blame game. Kobe Bryant “If you’re the GOAT, you do that [take responsibility],” Wilbon told James. “You don’t blame this cryptically or backhandedly on Darvin Ham. I don’t want to hear from anybody in a Laker uniform that the primary problem was Darvin Ham. Yes, LeBron and Anthony Davis were great in that series, but they weren’t good enough against Denver, so take that on. GOAT carries responsibility. I don’t see it.”
With Ham out, James will soon be playing for his 11th head coach — provided he remains a Laker beyond the 2024 free agency period. Like Wilbon, ESPN analyst Stephen A Smith also believes James must take blame for getting several coaches fired.
“There’s no way Darvin Ham is gone if Anthony Davis and LeBron James want him to stay,” Smith said on the
May 6 episode of “First Take” on ESPN. “Anthony Davis speaking out against him and LeBron James not speaking up for him… Excuse me, all of those things come along with critiquing one’s GOAT status as well, because the acrimony, friction, divide, fragmentation — all of those things play a role in contributing to one’s greatness or lack thereof. Maybe that’s the reason LeBron has four rings instead of six.” Who Will Succeed Ham?
The Lakers will soon start
searching for their next head coach, with names like Mike Budenholzer, Kenny Atkinson, JJ Redick, Terry Stotts, Ty Lue and Jason Kidd being considered. At least two of those names — the Clippers’ Lue and the Mavericks’ Kidd — have
already been ruled out of contention. Kidd agreed to a new long-term deal with Dallas on May 6 and it's expected that Lue will do the same with the Clippers. The absence of Lue and Kidd might push the Lakers to consider hiring a first-time coach like Redick, or
possibly former Laker Rajon Rondo. Budenholzer, a former two-time Coach of the Year, is the
clear favorite to be appointed as the next Lakers coach as of May 6. A seasoned analyst has criticized LeBron James for not taking responsibility for the Lakers’ playoff elimination and for shifting blame to Darvin Ham.
