How the Los Angeles Lakers have treated this 2024 NBA offseason has pretty much suggested that former head coach Darvin Ham was the issue all along.
The Los Angeles Lakers had very little to work with, but big dreams of adding on the 2024 depth chart. It would come the season after they reached the Western Conference Finals, but that overhaul was needed less than one round into a 47-win regular-season campaign.
Darvin Ham getting fired is apparently the biggest upgrade general manager Rob Pelinka thinks he can pull off given what the Lakers have and haven’t done this summer.
The Lakers entered the offseason with a bang by taking SEC Player of Year Dalton Knecht and former USC Trojan guard Bronny James at the 2024 NBA Draft. The Los Angeles then went on to re-sign Max Christie, giving him a new four-year deal worth $32 million.
It is that latter decision where the philosophy in LA began to reveal itself, Christie being seen much more favorably by the front office than, say Ham. It’s not the break-the-cap money of an average $8 million per season, but stark contrast to how Christie was valued in terms of playing time. Christie, who has played the past two years under Ham, averaged 13.5 minutes per game in each season — managing a career best of merely 14.1 last year.
Is Darvin Ham the Lakers’ fall guy or what? Nearly every decision at this point appears to be informed by the Lakers’ shooting woes and many of them circle back to Ham. Knecht, for example, was viewed as one of the top long-range shooters in this year’s draft.
He is more of a three-level scorer than he is spot-up shooter, but that the Gators leader under Ham tended to be kind speaks towards maybe the most unnerving weakness from his time. The Lakers tied for 28th in the NBA with just over one-quarter of their field goal attempts per game coming from beyond the arc during the taxing 2023-24 season. Perhaps, and it would be the optimistic outlook – though also a tad convenient considering LA simply could not hit those 3s – they then moved to what better suited their personnel.
In truth, the Lakers were No. 8 in the NBA for three-point field goal percentage—as much of a top-drawer team as anyone from long range—but they simply refused to let it fly at that point vacated spot on their nightly dinner plate. In contrast, the Boston Celtics – who just won a title of their own after leading the league in threes made and taken. The Dallas Mavericks, who lost to the Celtics in the NBA Finals after a Western Conference title run, fared best of all at No. 3 (conversions and attempts.).
Having won just 56 games and reached the Western Conference Finals, Minnesota was brutal from here: they were only No.15 in makes on an NBA-low 23rd most attempts per game—but played defense quite a bit better than Cleveland did. Long ago, it used to be enough for a shot outside the arc. But the day of reckoning has come and gone since one thing never changes: teams that can shoot effectively from distance invariably stick to their guns. Ultimately, the Lakers got in their own way and wasted LeBron James’ best shooting season by ignoring one of his strengths on offense.
The Lakers have publicly acknowledged the need to add shooting following their strategy for 2023-24 called into question. Los Angeles should be jacking up more threes from one end of the court to the other in 2017-18 now that new head coach JJ Redick is pulling their offensive strings. But it may not be what Pelinka said or did (in whatever order) that has placed them more in hot water than anybody else for the 2023-24 sins of Lakers past.
