Report: There’s a ‘growing disconnect’ between Darvin Ham, Lakers amid rotation changes
As we approach the halfway mark of the 2023-24 NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers have appeared to have reached a new low.
Ever since the Lakers won the first-ever In-Season Tournament in Las Vegas, Nev., in early December, they have lost nine of their last 12 games, including three straight. In their first of a five-game homestand inside Crypto.com Arena Wednesday night, the Lakers dropped a 110-96 nationally-televised game to the Miami Heat, who were without star forward Jimmy Butler, Caleb Martin and Haywood Highsmith.
According to NBA insider Shams Charania of The Athletic, there is a growing disconnect between him and the Lakers locker room due to his recent rotation fluctuations.
“Those sources have described that the disjointedness between the coach and team has stemmed from the extreme rotation and starting lineup adjustments recently from Ham,” Charania wrote Thursday (subscription required). “Leading to a fluctuating rhythm for several players across the roster.
“In the latest attempt to turn around LA’s skid, Ham used his 10th starting lineup of the season and third in three games … The latest lineup change continued a troubling trend as the Lakers have struggled to determine their best lineups or establish continuity this season, regardless of how healthy the team has been. The concern has only grown in recent weeks.”
Only one Lakers quintet has started more than five games together this season: D’Angelo Russell, Cam Reddish, Taurean Prince, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, which boasts a plus-1.0 NET Rating in 14 games together (12 starts).
Charania noted that Ham’s decision to bench Russell for Jarred Vanderbilt on Dec. 23, in an attempt to further shore up its then-No. 7-ranked defense after a four-game skid, was “considered a head-scratcher by multiple parties internally.”
Wednesday’s lineup machinations weren’t the only reason for Los Angeles’ 14-point loss, however.
Despite subpar games from Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro (to their standards), LeBron James finished with just 12 points on 6-of-18 shooting across 38 minutes in Wednesday’s loss against his former team. It marked his lowest scoring output in a game where he played at least 35 minutes since Feb. 22, 2016, against the Detroit Pistons (12 points on 5-18 FG).
It was also the Lakers’ second-lowest scoring output of the season–they’ve scored 94 points in two separate times against the Houston Rockets (Nov. 8) and Philadelphia 76ers (Nov. 27), the only other times it’s produced below 100 points in 2023-24.
Regardless of who was on the floor, they could not consistently pierce the Heat’s amoebic zone, which Erik Spoelstra oftentimes deploys when it’s playing undermanned (it used an 8-man rotation Wednesday). For more on the Heat’s zone and how it’s caused problems for teams in the past, our very own Jarrod Prosser did a great video on it in June that you can check out here.
Darvin Ham did point to health as the biggest reason for their lack of rhythm, even though the team he lost to Wednesday has fielded nearly twice as many starting lineups (19) as his team has and is still six games above .500.
“We’ve got to get healthy,” Ham said. “Once you get healthy, guys got to get back into rhythm and we’ve got to find a cohesive unit, a total cohesive rotation that we can go with. When you’re dealing with different guys being in and out of the lineup that frequently, it’s damn-near impossible to find a rhythm. That’s just being real. That’s no slight on anybody.”
James did not speak to the media following Wednesday’s loss, which could be a sign that he’s frustrated. It’s not something we haven’t seen before. The Lakers are below .500 (17-18) for the first time in nearly two months with the Feb. 8 trade deadline roughly a month away.
Darvin Ham has coached like he’s still experimenting with the Lakers’ lineups to find what truly clicks, even if several of the combinations are weird. I’m not sure if he–or anyone on the Lakers coaching staff–will find any sort of solution soon, even though the puzzle will need to be solved sooner rather than later before seismic changes unfold.
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