The Los Angeles Lakers are 43-26 for the season and sit in fourth place in the Western Conference. They are on pace to finish with their best record since the 2019-20 season when they won the title and have home-court advantage in the playoffs for the first time in the LeBron James era.
One of the biggest reasons for that is head coach JJ Redick. In his first year as a head coach, Redick has gotten a lot more out of this group than the previous head coaches. That includes Darvin Ham, who was fired after two seasons with the team. It turns out the former Lakers head coach is still bitter about the team's decision to replace him.
Bucks coach Doc Rivers asked if Darvin Ham views this game as a revenge game against the Lakers. Doc joked, “Yeah, he told me he wants to kick the Lakers’ ass.”
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) March 21, 2025
Darvin Ham Needs to Get Over the Lakers' Decision to Fire Him
Ham is currently an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks under Doc Rivers. The Bucks played the Lakers in LA on Thursday night, coming away with a blowout win against a team on the second night of a back-to-back without LeBron James, Austin Reaves, and Luka Doncic. After the game, Rivers was asked whether Ham still views Lakers games as "revenge" opportunities. Rivers had a tongue-in-cheek response to the question.
Whether Ham actually said he wanted to kick the Lakers' butt is beside the point. The 51-year-old coach has previously said that it was "crazy" that the Lakers fired him and that in any other situation, he would have received an extension.
Redick's success with the Lakers this season clearly refutes that claim. The Lakers are currently 11th in the league in defensive rating, a number higher than both Ham's seasons with the team. Plus, they are doing this without Anthony Davis or an elite defensive anchor for a significant portion of the season while having to integrate Luka Doncic in the middle of the campaign.