4 Lakers Who Won't Return Next Season

Darvin Ham

One can argue that the Lakers' underachieving is not Darvin Ham's fault. He was given a very flawed roster in his first season with the Russell Westbrook drama hanging over his head. Once Russ was traded mid-season, Ham was able to lead this team to the Conference Finals against all odds.

This year, the front office didn't make any significant upgrades in the offseason or mid-season. They basically brought back the same roster that got swept by the Nuggets and expected Ham to pull off a miracle. He obviously couldn't do much better, except to win one game against Denver this time around.

When you look at this Lakers roster, however, one has to wonder how much Ham really could have done. Outside of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, this team really lacks high-end talent and two-way players. Both of these stars need shooters around them to help space the floor for them and the Lakers are very limited in that aspect. Plus, there are certainly not enough good perimeter defenders, let alone any competent big man behind Davis.

It's hard to argue that this team could have been a contender with a different coach.

That being said, it's also impossible to argue that Ham has done a good job with the Lakers. The regular-season performance this year was disappointing considering how many games Davis and James played.

At the end of the day, none of this matters. The front office will blame Ham and move on from him since doing otherwise will bring on criticism towards them as they were the ones to construct the roster.