Lakers’ playing time gripes shows the clock is ticking for Darvin Ham | Ball Don’t Lie
Yahoo Sports senior NBA reporter Jake Fischer shares his perspective on the report that players in Los Angeles are unhappy with inconsistent rotations and playing time during the team’s recent skid - which has reached 9 losses in the last 12 games.
Video Transcript
- Tensions are mounting in Los Angeles, particularly in the Lakers locker room, after the team that won the inaugural In-Season Tournament has now gone 3 and 9 following their triumph in Las Vegas. And a report from "The Athletic's" Jovan Buha and Shams Charania first broke the news about multiple internal parties having specific gripes with the inconsistent rotations and starting lineups from head coach Darvin Ham.
From our reporting here at Yahoo Sports, that is certainly the case. The inconsistencies of playing time, particularly stemming with the benching, at first, of D'Angelo Russell and the fact that LeBron James has continued to serve as the lead ball handler and de facto point guard of the Lakers starting lineup while, arguably, their third best player, someone in Austin Reaves, who the Lakers paid quite handsomely, although on a relatively modest contract this summer, has been kind of stuck in a limited role, similar to what Knicks fans were complaining about for Immanuel Quickley before he was traded to the Toronto Raptors over the holiday break.
Now, with Los Angeles, it's becoming more of a pressing issue as the losses continue to pile. LeBron James is 39. As much as he's still playing at the peak of his powers, the pressure and the clock is certainly ticking in Crypto.com Arena, where there's starting to be legitimate talk and questions from players around that organization, agents of those players about the long term viability of Darvin Ham as the head coach of this team.
He's in the second year of a four year coaching contract. Austin Reaves just said Wednesday night, following a brutal loss to the Miami Heat without Jimmy Butler, that this team has the talent. The players like each other. They're invested in this group.
It's just a matter now of their head coach, who really was on the interview circuit for a long time before he got this opportunity, to figure out a way to connect with this roster and put them in position where they feel like they're being maximized and have a better chance to win games.