Clippers coach Tyronn Lue defends Lakers’ Darvin Ham: ‘Definitely unfair’

National Basketball Association

Published Jan. 8, 2024 2:46 p.m. ET

LOS ANGELES – Darvin Ham didn’t flinch.

With his job as Lakers head coach reportedly on the line, he was asked Sunday night how he knows whether his career is at a metaphorical valley – or cliff.

“I guess the velocity in which I hit the ground,” Ham said, chuckling.

His quick-witted response infused humor into an awkward situation. When an NBA team struggles, the coach often takes the blame. And worst of all, he usually has to endure a never-ending Merry-Go-Round of grand inquisitions, in which he’s publicly grilled about whether he’s deserving of his title.

As Ham spent much of his news conference before Sunday’s 106-103 win over the LA Clippers discussing his livelihood, the coach down the hall was enjoying a very different career moment.

Entering Sunday’s game, Tyronn Lue had led the Clippers to five straight wins, including winning 14 of their last 16 to become one of the hottest teams in the league. Meanwhile, Ham’s squad had lost four games in a row, going on a 3-10 skid since mid-December.

The juxtaposition between their media sessions was stark.

But despite their very different situations, there was also a deep understanding. After all, not too long ago, Lue was fired following an 0-6 start with Cleveland in 2018. And even this season, things could’ve looked very different if the Clippers hadn’t emphatically recovered from a five-game losing streak in November after acquiring James Harden.

So, it comes as no surprise that Lue was quick to come to Ham’s defense.

“It’s definitely unfair,” Lue said of the blame Ham is receiving. “…We said the same thing last season when they were 2-10. And they went to the conference finals. Are you giving the coach all the credit for that? I don’t think so.”

[Why it’s not time to panic for the Lakers and Darvin Ham, at least not yet]

Since the end of the 2022-23 regular season, six teams have parted ways with their head coaches: Detroit (Dwane Casey), Houston (Stephen Silas), Milwaukee (Mike Budenholzer), Philadelphia (Doc Rivers), Phoenix (Monty Williams) and Toronto (Nick Nurse).

The Lakers, in particular, have been a revolving door for head coaches over the last decade. Since Phil Jackson retired in 2011, the Lakers have had six different head coaches, seven including Bernie Bickerstaff, who spent five games at the helm in 2012 in an interim role.

Ham intimated that he doesn’t believe he’s on the verge of joining that list, saying Friday that he’s “aligned” with Lakers governor Jeanie Buss and general manager Rob Pelinka.

And he seemed unfazed Sunday when asked if he feels as though he’s coaching for his life.

“No, I don’t,” he said. “I feel like I’m coaching a hell-of-a franchise and it comes with the territory when you’re coaching this business. I’ve seen a lot of coaches come and go, good ones, and some that have some bad circumstances around them. But in no way, shape, or form do I feel that way.”

That said, for Ham, it was clear Sunday’s win released some much-needed tension from the pressure cooker.

The sense of relief on his face was palpable.

“Man, they are a championship ball club as far as I’m seeing, playing very high-level basketball,” Ham said of the Clippers. “Multiple threats all over the place. So, yeah, that’s a huge, huge win. Great win to get off the slide.”

Ham helped his team turn a nine-point deficit into a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. Things got a bit dicey down the stretch, when the Lakers blew that advantage with just over two minutes left as Norman Powell made three free throws to tie the score at 98-98. But the Lakers held on in crunch time, something they’ve failed to do in recent contests.

While Ham was allowing himself to enjoy the moment, LeBron James was a bit more measured.

“We gotta continue to get better,” said James, who had 25 points on 11-for-19 shooting, eight rebounds and seven assists. “Try to use this to try to catapult a little bit better play from us. But it still doesn’t take away from the fact of how we’ve been playing like the last 11, 12 games. Tonight was a good start. Hopefully we can start from here and continue to build.”

Funny enough, if any coach understands how to best relate to James, it’s actually Lue, who coached James to a historic championship with Cleveland in 2016 when the Cavaliers became the first and only team to recover from a 3-1 deficit in the Finals. In fact, they’ve remained close, with Lue even attending James’ recent ’70s-themed 39th birthday party.

“People think about X’s and O’s,” Lue said. “But it’s more than just X’s and O’s in the NBA, and being a coach has a lot to do with handling different personalities, different egos. There’s a lot that goes into it. So, the biggest thing for me with D Ham is, like I said, just keep doing what you believe in. What he did last year was huge.”

As for James, when he was asked what he thought of the Harden-led Clippers, he was quick to make a correction.

“You said it’s the James Harden Clippers?” James asked. “Nah. It’s the T-Lue Clippers. I know T-Lue very well. It don’t take T-Lue long to make sure s— get right. It took him five games and they’ve been cooking since.”

[Now thriving with Clippers, James Harden says ‘villain role’ is over with]

It’s clear that the Lakers need to follow suit – or else.

Ham is taking things in stride.

When things get stressful, he reminds himself that this isn’t stress at all.

He survived a bullet to the jaw when he was 14. When he was 16, one of his childhood friends got killed.

“I had talked to him two hours before he was murdered,” Ham said. “And I was a pallbearer, 16 years old, with a 16-year-old in the box with five other 16-year-olds carrying a casket out of the church, into the hearse, out of the hearse, to the gravesite,” Ham said. “So don’t excuse me if I’m not frantic or panicking or anything.”

So, even though Ham acknowledged that the negative chatter “got real noisy” recently, he’s also refusing to let it get the best of him.

He’s going to continue cracking jokes. Keeping his head up. And trying to find a way to dig the Lakers out of this mess.

“I keep that focus like that,” he said, “because I know things have been way worse.”

Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.

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