Darvin Ham strongly believes he deserved an extension after Lakers firing - “Not talking feelings, just facts”

In April 2022, the LA Lakers made the tough call to fire Frank Vogel, who coached them to an NBA championship and replaced him with Darvin Ham.

Ham was a rising star as an assistant coach, and LeBron James celebrated his hiring on X at the time. However, after two years with the organization, they showed Ham the door as well.

In the wake of winning the Emirates NBA Cup with the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday, this time as an assistant, Ham made sure to call the Lakers out for the way they let him go.

“To do as well as I did, I swear to God, anywhere else I’m probably looking at an extension with what I did,” Ham said, via Andscape. “I’m not talking about feelings, I’m talking actual facts. They go from not making it to the playoffs to the final four in the NBA, the conference finals. And then you win the in-season tournament, navigate through all the injuries and win both of your play-in games to get to the playoffs.”

Ham ended his tenure with the Lakers with a 90-74 record with two trips to the playoffs, reaching the Western Conference finals in 2023 before being sent home in the first round in the following year, both times by the Denver Nuggets.

“People always talk about us losing to Denver, but they never talk about how we got to Denver,” Ham said. “We beat a kick-a** young squad in Memphis and we beat Golden State.”

Doc Rivers calls Darvin Ham the Bucks' secret weapon

Doc Rivers was thrilled to welcome Darvin Ham to his coaching staff. Notably, Ham is undefeated in the NBA Cup and Rivers called him his "secret weapon."

"By the way, we brought our secret weapon," Rivers said. "Darvin Ham is now an undefeated coach in two years in this cup. When I said that (about Ham), (Taurean Prince) was like, 'What about me?' and he's an undefeated player, so that's pretty cool for them. You know where that will help us is on the back end because it's tough. You come right out of this and you have to get back to the grind."

This season, the LA Lakers are 14-12 and 10th in the Western Conference with JJ Redick at the helm. They also failed to make the knockout stages of the Emirates NBA Cup.