Dave McMenamin, ESPN Staff Writer January 9, 2024, 2:57 p.m. ET
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- Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN.
- He covered the Lakers and the NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009 to 2014, the Cavaliers for ESPN.com from 2014 to 2018, and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005 to 2009.
The first signs Big trouble arose in Dallas.
It was December 12th, the Los Angeles Lakers' first game since winning the NBA's first tournament of the season in Las Vegas. And Mavericks guard Dante Exum, the former No. 5 pick who played in Spain and Serbia the past two seasons, was seething.
It started with an open 3-pointer a few minutes into the first quarter, with LeBron James intentionally giving Exum space so he could block a lane for Luka Doncic. It ended with a three-pointer from the corner with 52.1 seconds left to put the Mavs ahead by seven.
Exum, starting in place of the injured Kyrie Irving, had made eight three-pointers on 28 attempts all season. He hit 7 of 9 against the Lakers.
“Surgery successful; Patient dies,” LA coach Darvin Ham said in reflecting on the Lakers' 127-125 loss, referencing a saying former Milwaukee Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer often used when Ham was an assistant with the team.
“The game plan was implemented. It's worked out. We limited the opportunities for the opposing team's main threats, but the guy who was filtering out the ball stepped up and made shots. …Do you stay home with Dante and give Luka.” All the freedom in the world?
Even though the strategy backfired – Dallas went 21-43 through three games as a team – it was a decision made out of necessity.
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The team didn't have the personnel to both contain Doncic and pivot to the hot shooter. The Lakers' best ball defender, Jarred Vanderbilt, was sidelined with a lower back injury. Gabe Vincent, signed in the offseason to play outside defense and shooting, was sidelined with a left knee injury that limited him to just five games and will sideline him for at least another month.
Making matters worse, the loss was the first night in a row in Dallas, with a date with the struggling San Antonio Spurs the following day. The team had discussed a plan internally to have stars James and Anthony Davis play against Dallas and then rest both in San Antonio the next night, sources told ESPN, as Davis was dealing with ongoing hip discomfort and the franchise was dealing with the workload James was aware as a 21-year-old veteran.
After suffering one defeat and not wanting to risk another, James sat and Davis played, twisting his ankle in the first minute but coming through and scoring 37 points in 38 minutes. LA held off a 45-30 fourth-quarter surge by Victor Wembanyama & Co. to win by three.
The Lakers' problems were just beginning to emerge just days after their IST championship victory over the Indiana Pacers. Ultimately, they grew to 4-10 after the tournament, plagued by a fast-paced approach to injuries, defensive lapses and increasingly loud whispers of lineup inconsistencies and dissatisfaction.
“We’re all on the same page,” Ham said last week, adding that he has the support of Lakers Gov. Jeanie Buss and vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka.
1:51
“I’m solid!” Darvin Ham feels the support of the Lakers leadership
Lakers coach Darvin Ham is speaking out about his job security after an anonymous source reported a “deepening separation” between Ham and the locker room.
A front office source acknowledged Ham's growth potential as a second-year coach, but told ESPN that the team hired Ham for his strength of character, toughness and presence – knowing the lights can be on in Laker Land. Ham got the job in part because they believed he was built to withstand it.
That's all led to now: just a month until the NBA's Feb. 8 trade deadline, with an underperforming roster centered around a superstar duo currently enjoying some of the healthiest stretches of their careers in LA.
“I guess I've gotten a small sample of what we can do when we're whole, but I've got more of a bigger picture of what we look like when we're not,” James said in late December, in the middle of the months-long grind from LA. “So that’s a daunting part.
“But there are no excuses because everyone gets injuries, everyone does travel and things like that. This league is built on that, so we just have to figure it out.”
THE MORNING AFTER The Lakers lost to the New York Knicks at Crypto.com Arena on Dec. 18 – one of their few respites from an eventful December – and the team boarded a plane to Chicago, the first of a three-game trip. They had lost three out of four.
During the four-hour flight and hoping to stop the slide, Ham and his coaching staff decided to show the team the defensive prowess it built last season on its way to the Western Conference Finals – the Lakers were the No. 5 defense during the 2023 playoffs – compared to their performance on defense this season (No. 12 in the league).
Wednesday
Pelicans at Warriors, 8:30 p.m. (ABC)
Nuggets in Jazz, 10 p.m
Friday
Kings at 76ers, 7:30 p.m
Pelicans at Nuggets, 10 p.m
Always east
The message conveyed in Chicago, sources said, was simple: “We're not going to get anywhere this season if we don't become an elite defensive team again.”
Just a day later, they were far from that against the Bulls. Despite having a full roster available for the first time this season, LA allowed 124 points on 54.5% shooting, 18-for-34 on 3s and eight Bulls scoring in double figures. (After limiting their opponents to 32% three-point shooting in seven IST games, the Lakers have since allowed 42% from distance, the third-highest mark in that span.)
After the loss in Chicago, the Lakers' third straight, James and Davis pointed to two other problems beyond the grueling schedule and ongoing injuries that had plagued the team: the looming turnover deadline and the coaching staff's inconsistent rotations .
“There’s no help coming,” Davis said. “There is no cavalry. We have to do it in this locker room.”
James said: “We obviously had a lineup tonight that we haven't played with all season, and Chicago was able to make a run when that lineup was on the field. So that’s something we have to work through.”
The last time the Lakers lost three straight and fell to 3-5 after a 34-point loss to the Houston Rockets in early November, Ham had changed the starting lineup, replacing Cam Reddish in place of Austin Reaves.
The move worked. LA won 12 of its next 16 games and the franchise captured its first NBA Cup.
“You can’t just change on a whim,” Ham said after the Bulls’ loss when asked if there would be another change in starters. “That’s a big deal when you change your starting lineup at this level.”
But after a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Dec. 21 extended the losing streak to four, Ham actually switched starters. Because Vincent's return only lasted one game before he elected to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, D'Angelo Russell, who started 28 of the first 29 games, was moved to the bench to fill the backup point role signed by Vincent Guard to take over in the offseason.
1:58
LeBron's 40-point night helps the Lakers end a four-game losing streak
LeBron James scores 40 points with seven assists and seven rebounds in the Lakers' win over the Thunder.
In his place, Ham went with a large, interchangeable group of Davis, James, Vanderbilt, Reddish and Taurean Prince in hopes of increasing the team's defensive impact.
According to ESPN's sources, the lineup change wasn't a unilateral decision – Ham consulted with James and Davis about the concept – and the results were immediate: The Lakers defeated the Thunder on December 23, with James scoring a whopping 40 points and LA delivering a season-high performance of 37 assists.
“We needed this win,” James said.
LIKE THE LAKERS assembled their roster last summer – LA left most of last season's core intact while adding backup talent at key positions – the debate among the team was whether the abundance of depth, rather than the lack of it, would be the problem.
“Believe me, it’s a big problem,” Ham said before training camp. “You can never have enough good players.”
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Between the Lakers' IST win and Jan. 6, their players missed a total of 31 games due to injury, a total that ranked just 15th in the league during that span but was a far worse problem for LA
Aside from Vincent's knee, Vanderbilt is still working on getting back into shape after missing the first 20 games with bursitis in his left heel; Hachimura missed four games due to a concussion, another five games due to a broken nose and currently three games and counting due to a calf strain; Reddish's groin injury lingers and has kept him from playing back-to-backs for preventive reasons, sources told ESPN. and Russell missed almost three straight games with a bruised tailbone.
On Monday, with a 106-103 win over their cross-town rivals, the Lakers' fortunes finally took a turn for the better.
Several elements worked against the Clippers – the Lakers' defense kept the Clips' shooting below 40%; James and Davis lead the attack; Russell returns from his tailbone injury; Key bench contributions from Max Christie and Christian Wood, playing on both sides; another short walk to downtown LA.
The win – only the second since Christmas – was assured, but not before things got “really loud”, said Ham, when asked about the “panic from outside” that accompanied his team's decline.
“But,” he added, “take a little deep breath.”
The franchise may not have time for this. Next month — culminating with the Feb. 8 trade deadline — could prove far more consequential than the month the Lakers just experienced. (Many contracts around the league signed in the offseason, including those of Hachimura and Reaves, will be eligible for trade on Monday.)
And with the Lakers playing eight of the next nine games in Los Angeles before playing six games at the end of the month, this stretch could determine whether the Lakers are a contender for the conference finals, dropped in the first round, or worse happen.
Of all the forces influencing the course of this season, the most consistent presences have been Davis, who played in 35 of 37 games, and James, who played in 34. The superstar duo from LA have proven healthy enough and dominant enough for a franchise that values its championship pedigree above all else to add as many reinforcements as possible.
Sources told ESPN that James' patience has been tested, but he figures his best response to the slump will be to lead by example on and off the court and hope everyone in the organization does the same standards applied. James consults with the coaching staff when necessary and participates in dialogue with the front office when presented with scenarios, but his focus remains on maximizing his role.
Complete coverage of all things NBA trade-related through the February 8th deadline
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The risk in exploring the trade market is almost certainly parting with a future draft pick to pair with one of the players the Lakers would send.
For example, any deal to acquire Zach LaVine — the Bulls have been linked to the Lakers as a potential trade destination — and his $40 million salary would almost certainly require the inclusion of Russell's $17.3 million contract . (After the Lakers' loss in Chicago last month, multiple sources told ESPN that they feared Russell's 1-for-6 performance may have been affected by the opponent.)
And sometimes moves just don't work. Sources told ESPN that every member of the organization involved in the Russell Westbrook trade – including James – will admit they made a miscalculation and bear some of the blame.
But there's also a risk in assuming James will be able to handle that heavy workload in his 21st season — he's played at least 37 minutes in 10 of his last 12 games — while LA waits for the roster to get healthy .
And a similar risk is taking this healthy window for Davis for granted. He has played in 82 of the Lakers' last 87 games since January 25, 2023; In the two and a half seasons before that, he missed 107 of 203 games due to injury.
Perhaps the only good thing about the Lakers' recent loss was its timing.
There are still potential deals to be completed and squad changes to be considered. Just last season, Pelinka made a series of moves during the season to spark a playoff push.
There are signs the team needs to tinker again or the season tournament banner hanging in the rafters could stop meaning anything exciting and turn into a reminder of a season gone wrong.
“When things don't go your way, you can't curl up in the corner somewhere and cry about it,” Ham said Jan. 3 after the Jimmy Butler-less Lakers lost to a Miami Heat team.
“There is still a lot of time left – but time is precious.”
ESPN NBA Insider Kevin Pelton contributed to this story.