5 head coach options for Lakers amid Darvin Ham's rumored rift with LA, ft. Mark Jackson & more

The LA Lakers are not in the position they expected to be after winning the NBA's inaugural In-Season Tournament. The team is 10th in the Western Conference with a 17-18 record and has lost eight of its last 10 games.

A major reason for their struggles is their stuttering offense. The Lakers have an offensive rating of 111.9, which ranks 24th in the league.

Amid these struggles, coach Darvin Ham has been attracting a lot of heat from the fans and the media. Reports suggest there is a rift brewing between him and his players.

If the Lakers do not generate some momentum in the coming weeks, Ham might be out of a job. Here are five candidates who could become the team's next head coach.

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5 candidates who can replace Darvin Ham for the Lakers head coach position

#1 Phil Handy

Phil Handy has been a Lakers assistant since 2019

Most teams that replace their head coach midseason usually look internally. Should the struggling LA franchise choose to do this, then it makes perfect sense that it promotes assistant coach Phil Handy.

As an assistant, Handy has won three championships -- Cleveland Cavaliers (2016), Toronto Raptors (2019), and the Lakers (2020).

Moreover, he is also very familiar with LeBron James and the makeup of the team so it would not take long for him to settle in.

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#2 Doc Rivers

Doc Rivers is a veteran head coach with championship experience

After his time coaching the Philadelphia 76ers was up, Doc Rivers returned to the broadcast booth where he currently works with ESPN's Doris Burke and Mike Breen as the network's lead broadcasting team. However, he could make a return to coaching if Darvin Ham is fired.

Should Rivers become the Lakers' next head coach, it would mark the second time in his professional career that he transitioned from coaching to broadcasting and back to coaching.

The first instance was when the Orlando Magic fired him in 2003. He became a commentator for a year before joining LA's rivals, the Boston Celtics.

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#3 Mike Budenholzer

Mike Budenholzer is a two-time COTY and an NBA Champion

Mike Budenholzer is one of the most successful NBA coaches in recent history. He was an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich from 1996-2013. He then became a successful head coach, winning the Coach of the Year Award twice, once with the Atlanta Hawks (2015) and then with the Milwaukee Bucks (2019).

He was the Bucks' head coach when they won the championship in 2021.

Budenholzer could prove to be a great choice for the Lakers as he has already been successful with two different franchises in the past decade. He is familiar with the modern NBA and could help the team turn their season around.

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#4 Mark Jackson

Mark Jackson could make a return to coaching with the Lakers

Before the Golden State Warriors formed the most dominant dynasty of the past decade under Steve Kerr, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry played perhaps the most important phase of their formative years under Mark Jackson.

Jackson was the Warriors' coach for three seasons from 2011-14, but was removed just before they won their first championship. At the time, the Warriors front office said he had left the team in a much better state than he had found it in.

He is a viable option for the Lakers if he wants to return to a head coaching position.

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#5 Terry Stotts

Terry Stotts is best known for his time with the Portland TrailBlazers

Terry Stotts' last coaching gig ended quite abruptly as he stepped down from his assistant coach position with the Milwaukee Bucks after just four months, before the regular season even began.

Prior to that, he spent nearly a decade as the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. He led the Blazers to multiple playoff appearances and left the club with 402 wins, the second-most in franchise history.

Stotts has been recognized as one of the more reliable offensive coordinators in the league and can be a solid option for a team that is struggling to get its offense going.