LOS ANGELES — The Lakers fired coach Darwin Hamm on Friday after two seasons, and the team will now begin the job search in hopes of finding the right person to achieve maximum statistics as the final chapter of LeBron James’ career begins. Championship dispute.
Hamm, who had two years remaining on his contract, is 90-74 (.549) during the regular season and 9-12 (.429) in the postseason – plus two play-in tournament wins – since being hired as a replacement in 2022. Frank Vogel. Hamm also guided the Lakers to the early season tournament title in Las Vegas in December.
The decision came just days after the Lakers were eliminated by the Nuggets for the second consecutive season, this time in five games in the first round after being defeated by Denver in the Conference Finals a year ago.
Rob Pelinka, Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager, said, “We greatly appreciate Darwin Hamm’s efforts on behalf of the Lakers and recognize the many accomplishments he has accomplished over the past two seasons, including remarkable performances in the Western Conference Finals last year. Are.” a statement. “We all want to thank Darwin for his dedication and positivity. Although this decision was a difficult one to make, it is the best course of action after a thorough review of the season. The organization remains steadfast in its commitment to providing championship-caliber There will be basketball for Lakers fans around the world.”
Later on Friday, after firing Hamm, the Lakers fired the entire coaching staff, sources told ESPN. The group included Phil Handy, who was an assistant coach under both Hamm and Frank Vogel in Los Angeles and was an assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers during LeBron James’ second stint with the franchise.
Despite James (71 games) and Anthony Davis (76) playing their most combined games since becoming teammates in Los Angeles in 2018, the Lakers clinched only the 7th seed in a crowded Western Conference field, leading the No. The match was decided. 2-seeded nugget.
The Lakers failed to protect double-digit leads in all four of their losses in the series, including blowing a 20-point lead in the second half in Game 2.
“It’s been a rough two years. … I’ll tell you this,” Hamm said Monday after the Lakers’ elimination. “It’s been a rough two years sitting in this seat. A lot of good things have happened, but at the end of the day, you want to win that final prize.”
Ham inherited a Lakers team that endured one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history, when it went 33-49 in 2021-22 and failed to qualify for the postseason, as he traded away several role players. Which were important for the team’s 2020. Heading to Russell Westbrook.
The Lakers started 2–10 in Hamm’s first season, and completely overhauled the roster in a series of moves leading up to the trade deadline. The team parted ways with Westbrook and reworked with D’Angelo Russell, Jared Vanderbilt and Rui Hachimura to complement holdovers James, Davis and Austin Reaves.
That team defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves in the play-in tournament to clinch the No. 7 seed and upset the No. 2-seeded Memphis Grizzlies and No. 6-seeded Golden State Warriors before losing to the top-seeded Nuggets. Denver won its first championship in franchise history.
This season, the Lakers once again got off to a bad start, going 3–5 and then faltered at 4–11 after the in-season tournament title, finishing 13th in the West in mid-January. Slipped away. Los Angeles rallied to finish the season 23–10 – the fifth-best record in the NBA from February 1 to mid-April – and again clinched the No. 7 seed by defeating the New Orleans Pelicans in the play-in tournament. ,
Last year, the Nuggets defeated the Lakers in the playoffs and outscored them by 24 points in their four wins; This time, Denver had to play five games and the combined margin of victory in the four wins was 22 points.
