Report: Lakers have fired Darvin Ham

According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, the Los Angeles Lakers may have made the decision to fire head coach Darvin Ham due in part to their concerns around the possibility that star centre Anthony Davis may ask for a trade.

Despite having a bad luck with injuries during his NBA career, Davis was able to play for the Lakers for the most of the 2023–24 regular season. Remarkably, he participated in 76 of Los Angeles’ 82 games this season despite playing in more than 60 games just once in his first four seasons with the legendary team.

During his fifth season in Los Angeles, Davis shot 81.6 percent from the charity stripe and 55.6 percent from the field, averaging 24.7 points, 12.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.2 steals, and 2.3 blocks a game.

Davis wasn’t to blame for the Lakers’ first-round departure in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, even though they were unable to make their second consecutive deep postseason run and lost to the Denver Nuggets instead.

He was perhaps the team’s greatest player versus Denver, as evidenced by the fact that he grabbed an incredible 15.6 rebounds per game and tied LeBron James for the team’s highest scoring average (27.8 points per game). In every game of the series, he pulled down at least 11 rebounds, and in a triumph in Game 4, he pulled down 23.

Given that James, who has a player option on his deal for the upcoming 2024–25 season, may be another great player the Lakers lose, it makes logical that the franchise would want to hang onto Davis.

Right now, there’s significant uncertainty about his future with the team. Although it is said that the Lakers are planning for James to stay in Los Angeles, if he declines his player option this summer, he might still be eligible for unrestricted free agency.

Though it’s unclear if that wish will come true, Lakers supporters undoubtedly hope that James will play with Davis in Los Angeles for the remainder of his NBA career.