LOS ANGELES – Following their ninth loss in 12 games, the Los Angeles Lakers have reached a new nadir in their season, amplifying concerns about the direction of the season both inside and outside the organization.
There is currently a deepening disconnect between Darvin Ham and the Lakers locker room, six sources with direct knowledge of the situation say, raising questions about the head coach’s standing. People spoke with The Athletic on condition of anonymity to be able to speak freely about the matter. Those sources have described the disconnect between coach and team as due to extreme rotation and recent adjustments to Ham’s starting lineup, which has led to a fluctuating pace for several players on the roster.
The Miami Heat, playing without superstar Jimmy Butler, beat the Lakers 110-96 at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday. The loss dropped Los Angeles to 17-18 (the first time they’ve been below .500 since Nov. 11) and put them just .001 percentage points ahead of the Golden State Warriors at No. 10. of the Western Conference. The Lakers are 3-9 since winning the Season Tournament in Las Vegas on December 9. They have lost three games in a row and Wednesday night’s loss caused growing turbulence.
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In the latest attempt to reverse Los Angeles’ losing streak, Ham used his tenth 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 center. The Lakers were minus-3 in the 13 minutes the group played Wednesday against Miami.
The latest lineup change continued a worrying trend as the Lakers have struggled to determine their best lineups or establish continuity this season, regardless of how healthy the team has been. Concern has only increased in recent weeks.
Ham’s decision to bench D’Angelo Russell and start James, Prince, Reddish, Jarred Vanderbilt and Davis in a lineup without a second guard starting Dec. 23 in Oklahoma City was considered a headache by multiple parties internally, according to spoken sources. for this story.
The Lakers made their case for continuity all summer, including the return of their top five scorers from the Western Conference Finals (James, Davis, Reaves, Russell and Hachimura, in that order). But more than a third of the way through the season, three of those players — and the team’s third, fourth and fifth highest-paid players in Russell, Hachimura and Reaves, respectively — were coming off the bench. Reaves has been coming off the bench most of the season despite being touted by Ham as a future All-Star over the summer and ranking third on the team in scoring, Russell’s role has been reduced since Las Vegas, and Hachimura’s playing time falters every night. base.
After Wednesday’s loss, the locker room was opened before Ham addressed the media, which is rare. Davis spoke first, his voice soft and dejected, refusing to use injuries as an excuse.
“It’s a little bit of everything right now,” Davis said. “We are not executing. That team played harder than us tonight, executed better than us tonight, was more physical than us tonight. We worked more tonight. So right now it’s a little bit of everything. If we continue with this trend, it will not be good for us. So it’s pretty obvious that we have to figure it out sooner rather than later.
“The fact that the boys are away is not an excuse. There are no excuses for us. “Like the coach said (before the game), we have enough in this locker room to win, but we just have to go out and compete.”
During Davis’ availability, James, whose locker is right next to Davis’, 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 state that the Lakers, despite having James, Davis, Reaves and Russell in all but eight games combined, aren’t going to “find any consistency” until they are fully healthy. Hachimura (left calf strain), Russell (tailbone contusion) and Gabe Vincent (left knee surgery) are the three players currently injured.
“We have to get healthy,” Ham said. “…And once you’re healthy, guys have to get back into rhythm and we’ve got to find a cohesive unit, a totally cohesive rotation that we can work with. When you’re dealing with different guys coming in and out of the lineup so frequently, it’s almost impossible to find a rhythm. That’s just being real. “That’s not a slight to anyone.”
Ham then even went so far as to suggest that it’s easier to play without a star (as the Heat have been without Butler) than for a team to have multiple rotation players in and out of the lineup, as the Lakers have had for most of the season. of the years. the season.
“I think multiple (rotation players) have more impact than…if you lose one of your big dogs, you’re going to figure out how to try to get by without them,” Ham said. “…And when you have your key players, your key rotation players, this guy misses three or four. This guy misses three or four. And they’re happening one after another, that’s what makes it difficult. …We have to figure it 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 all possibilities.
“I think everything that makes sense is on the table,” Ham said. “No stone will be left unturned. “We are here to explore everything we can to right the ship.”
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Meanwhile, Reaves, who spoke after Ham, echoed a similar sentiment as Davis, saying the team can’t use fluctuating lineups as an excuse.
“Regardless of what the lineup is, the change, whatever happens, we have to be better as a team and try to win games,” Reaves said. “We have enough talent to win games. We have enough depth. We have enough ability. We have to solve it.”
Davis and Reaves’ perspective compared to Ham’s highlights the discrepancy between how the locker room feels about the team’s current issues versus how Ham has cited injuries, schedule and lineup changes amid the team’s inconsistency, particularly since the IST.
Ham confirmed after the game that the team had a meeting afterward, which is partly why it took so long for the locker room to open. By the time Davis spoke to the media, the rest of the players in the Lakers locker room had left. Reaves said the vibe in the locker room is “shitty.”
“We’re losing,” Reaves said. “Every time you lose, the vibe should go off, you know? “If I went in there and the vibe wasn’t bad after the tough stretch we’ve had, then I’d be worried.”
He later clarified that the atmosphere is not a matter of the players not liking each other, which was a notable distinction considering where the locker room was at this time last season.
“When I say the vibe is bad, it’s not that we don’t like each other,” Reaves said. “We are losing. We should be angry. We shouldn’t be happy after games about how we are playing. But I don’t want that to get twisted because we don’t like each other. “Everyone in the locker room gets along well.”
These Lakers have been through their share of adversity during Ham’s nearly two years as head coach, including a 2-10 start a season ago that ended with a berth in the Western Conference finals. So Ham, in the second year of a four-year coaching contract, has shown an ability to communicate with his players. But time is of the essence between James and Davis, 39, and as Ham has been tweaking lineups and adjustments over the past few weeks, patience is starting to wear thin.
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(Photo by Darvin Ham: Harry How/Getty Images)
