By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Darvin Ham will be having an unexpected reunion with the franchise that believed in his coaching philosophy six years ago confirmed on June 11, 2024.
After the Los Angeles Lakers fired him when they received another painful loss in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, Ham will be returning to the Milwaukee Bucks and will become Doc Rivers’ lead assistant coach effective next season.
The development was confirmed by ESPN’s veteran NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, stating that Ham chose Milwaukee despite several coaching offers from different NBA teams.
Ham will be working side-by-side together with Rivers and will look to revamp the Milwaukee system. For two consecutive years, the Bucks fell in the first round of the NBA Playoffs despite clinching home-court advantage.
After spending four years with the Milwaukee organization, Ham instantly created buzz in the off-season market and became one of the most sought-after tacticians.
Ham was then hired by the Lakers as their head coach. However, things didn’t fall into place in his first year as Los Angeles kicked off his debut season with a disappointing 2-10 win-loss record.
Just when everybody counted them out of playoff contention, Ham and his staff did a great job during the post All-Star break and steered the Lakers to a Western Conference 7th seed.
Despite entering the post-season as the second-lowest seed, the Lakers managed to dig deep and reach the Western Conference Finals. Unfortunately, Ham and LeBron James got swept by the Denver Nuggets that would move on and win the NBA championship trophy.
The following year, Ham’s coaching expertise became an issue for the Lakers as the team received a first-round playoffs loss, still against the Nuggets.
A week after their early playoff exit, the Los Angeles organization immediately announced that they ousted Ham from his head coaching post.
With a reunion happening in Milwaukee, Ham will be operating again in a familiar workplace together with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, and Brook Lopez.
Ham was an instrumental piece to Milwaukee’s NBA Championship title during the 2021 season and was their assistant coach under Mike Budenholzer.
That year, the Bucks wrapped up their NBA Finals series against the Phoenix Suns in six games and capped off their magical post-season with another title after 50 years.
