LOS ANGELES – After their ninth loss in 12 games, the Los Angeles Lakers have reached a new low in their season, heightening concerns both inside and outside the organization about the direction of the season.
According to six sources with direct knowledge of the situation, there is currently a growing disconnect between Darvin Ham and the Lakers' locker room, raising questions about the head coach's standing. The people spoke to The Athletic on condition of anonymity so they could speak freely on the matter. These sources have described the disagreements between the coach and the team as stemming from Ham's extreme rotation and recent adjustments to the starting lineup, which has resulted in a fluctuating rhythm for several players across the squad.
The Miami Heat, playing without superstar Jimmy Butler, defeated the Lakers 110-96 on Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena. The loss dropped Los Angeles to 17-18 — the first time they were under .500 since Nov. 11 — and moved them just .001 percentage points above the 10th-seeded Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference. The Lakers are 3-9 since winning the in-season tournament in Las Vegas on Dec. 9. They have lost three games in a row and Wednesday night's defeat led to increasing turmoil.
GO DEEPER
A play-in with LeBron, Steph and KD? It's possible: Hollinger's week that was
In the latest attempt to reverse LA's slide, Ham used his 10th starting lineup of the season and third in three games: Austin Reaves at point guard, Taurean Prince at shooting guard, Cam Reddish at small forward, LeBron James at power forward and Anthony Davis in the Center. The Lakers were minus-3 in the 13 minutes the group played together on Wednesday against Miami.
The recent roster turnover continued a troubling trend as the Lakers have struggled to identify their best lineup or establish continuity this season, regardless of how healthy the team has been. The concern has only grown in recent weeks.
Ham's decision to bench D'Angelo Russell and use James, Prince, Reddish, Jarred Vanderbilt and Davis in a lineup without a second guard ballhandler starting Dec. 23 in Oklahoma City was viewed internally as a headache by several parties , as evidenced by spoken sources for this story.
The Lakers defended their continuity all summer, including returning their top five scorers from the Western Conference finals (James, Davis, Reaves, Russell and Hachimura, in that order). But it took more than a third of the season for three of those players – and Russell, Hachimura and Reaves, the team's third, fourth and fifth highest paid players – to come off the bench. Reaves had to come off the bench for most of the season, even though Ham had touted him as a future All-Star over the summer and he was third on the team in scoring. Russell's role has shrunk since Las Vegas and Hachimura's playing time fluctuates on a nightly basis.
After Wednesday's loss, the locker room opened before Ham addressed the media, a rare occurrence. Davis spoke quietly and dejectedly at first, refusing to use injuries as an excuse.
“Right now it’s a little bit of everything,” Davis said. “We don’t execute. This team played harder than us tonight, performed better tonight and is more physical than us tonight. We worked this evening. So there's a little bit of everything at the moment. If we continue this trend, it will not be good for us. So it's pretty obvious that we need to find out sooner than later.
“The fact that boys are out is no excuse. There are no excuses for us. Like coach said (before the game), we have enough in this locker room to win, but we just have to go out and compete.”
While Davis was available, James, whose locker is right next to Davis, got dressed and left the locker room without speaking to reporters.
Ham finally spoke to the media 30 minutes after the buzzer. He went on to explain that despite having James, Davis, Reaves and Russell together in all but eight games, the Lakers “won't find consistency” until they're fully healthy. Hachimura (left calf strain), Russell (tailbone bruise) and Gabe Vincent (left knee surgery) are the three players currently injured.
“We need to get healthy,” Ham said. “…And once you're healthy, the guys have to get back into the rhythm and we have to find a cohesive unit, a totally cohesive rotation that we can keep going. When you're dealing with so many different people coming out of the lineup, it's almost impossible to find a rhythm. This is just real. This is not an insult to anyone.”
Ham then went so far as to point out that it's easier to play without a star – as the Heat were without Butler – than for a team to have multiple rotation players in and out of the lineup, as the Lakers have most of them Time the case was the season.
“I think the multiples (rotation players) are more impactful than … if you lose one of your big dogs, you're going to figure out how to try to cope without them,” Ham said. “…And when you have your key role players, your key rotation players – this guy is missing three or four. This guy misses three or four. And they happen right after one another, which makes it difficult. …We have to find out. I’m disappointed, but I’ll be damned if I get discouraged.”
When asked if he would consider returning to the team's original starting lineup of Russell, Reaves, Vanderbilt, James and Davis, Ham said the team is considering every possibility.
“I think everything that makes sense is on the table,” Ham said. “No stone should be left unturned. We are here to explore everything we can to right the ship.”
GO DEEPER
The injury-plagued Lakers are struggling to find their “cohesion,” but some issues go beyond health
Meanwhile, Reaves, speaking after Ham, echoed a similar sentiment to Davis, saying the team can't use fluctuating lineups as an excuse.
“Regardless of the lineup, the changes and whatever happens, we have to get better as a team and win games,” Reaves said. “We are more than talented enough to win games. We have enough depth. We have enough skill. We have to find out.”
Davis and Reaves' perspective compared to Ham's highlights the disconnect between the locker room's attitude toward the team's current issues and the way Ham handles injuries, schedule and lineup changes in the face of the team's inconsistency, particularly since IST. has led.
Ham confirmed after the game that the team held a team meeting afterwards, which was partly why the dressing room took so long to open. By the time Davis spoke to the media, the remaining players had already left the Lakers' locker room. Reaves said the mood in the locker room was “seedy.”
“We’re losing,” Reaves said. “Every time you lose, the mood should go away, you know? If I went in there and the mood wasn’t so bad after the tough stretch we had, then I would be worried.”
He later clarified that the atmosphere was not due to the players disliking each other, which was a notable difference considering where the locker room was at this time last season.
“When I say the vibe isn’t right, it doesn’t mean we don’t like each other,” Reaves said. “The thing is, we are losing. We should be angry. We shouldn't be satisfied with our performance after the games. But I don't want us to dislike each other. Everyone in the locker room gets along.”
These Lakers have endured their fair share of adversity during Ham's nearly two years as head coach, including a 2-10 start a season ago that ended with a trip to the Western Conference Finals. So in the second year of his four-year coaching contract, Ham has shown that he has the ability to get through to his players. But time is running out around the 39-year-old James and Davis, and as Ham has tinkered with lineups and adjustments in recent weeks, patience is beginning to wear thin.
Receive The Bounce, a daily NBA newsletter from Zach Harper and Shams Charania, in your inbox every morning. Login here.
(Photo by Darvin Ham: Harry How/Getty Images)