Democracy Dies in Darkness

Lakers fire coach Darvin Ham after two up-and-down seasons

Ham leaves with a 90-74 record and consecutive playoff exits against the Nuggets.

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Darvin Ham had a record of 90-74 over two seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers that both ended with playoff losses to the Denver Nuggets. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
4 min

The Los Angeles Lakers fired Darvin Ham on Friday, four days after his second season as coach ended with a first-round playoff exit against the Denver Nuggets.

Ham, 50, was hired to his first head coaching job in 2022 following the Lakers’ firing of Frank Vogel. An eight-year NBA veteran as a player and a longtime assistant coach, Ham guided the Lakers to a 90-74 (.549) record across two seasons and an unexpected trip to the 2023 Western Conference finals. This season, Los Angeles went 47-35, won the inaugural in-season tournament and advanced out of the play-in tournament to claim the Western Conference’s No. 7 seed before falling to the Denver Nuggets in five games.