Things haven’t been going quite well for the Lakers lately after they’ve dropped three in a row and nine of their last 12 games.
And now it seems there’s a “deepening disconnect” between the team and head coach Darvin Ham, The Athletic reported Thursday.
Six sources told the outlet about the issue, which has gotten people wondering about his job security.
The disconnect appears to come from the fact that Ham has made a number of adjustments to the rotation and starting lineup that The Athletic described as “extreme.”
The Lakers head coach used his 10th different lineup in Wednesday night’s 110-96 loss to the Jimmy Butler-less Heat.
It was Los Angeles’ third consecutive game using a different lineup in as many games.
Ham, 50, previously faced scrutiny over his lineup choices back on Dec. 23 during a game against the Thunder.
In that game, he had opted to start LeBron James, Taurean Prince, Cam Reddish, Jarred Vanderbilt and Anthony Davis while he sat D’Angelo Russell.
The move, according to the report, confused multiple people internally over the decision not to have a second guard ballhandler in the lineup.
Los Angeles has failed to find its best group or find much continuity this season, and its record has proven that.
The Lakers dropped to 17-18 after the latest loss and have gone 3-9 since they won the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament last month.
The team now is 20th in the NBA in points per game differential at -0.8.
“It’s a little bit of everything right now,” Davis told reporters after the loss on Wednesday. “We’re not executing. That team played harder than us tonight, executed better than us tonight, more physical than us tonight. We got outworked tonight. So it’s a bit of everything right now. If we keep on this trend, it’s not going to be good for us. So it’s kind of obvious that we have to figure it out sooner than later.”
After the Wednesday loss, Austin Reaves told the Los Angeles Times that the feeling in the locker room was “s–tty. We’re losing.”
In contrast, Ham seemed to indicate the issues with the team had to do with the lack of health.
Gabe Vincent, Rui Hachimura and Russell are dealing with injuries.
“Once you get healthy, guys got to get back into rhythm and we’ve got to find a cohesive unit, a total cohesive rotation that we can go with,” Ham said. “When you’re dealing with different guys being in and out of the lineup that frequently, it’s damn-near impossible to find a rhythm. That’s just being real. That’s no slight on anybody.”
The Lakers face the Grizzlies on Friday hoping to snap out of their current funk.