Former Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham is going back to Milwaukee. He has been hired as the lead assistant on Doc Rivers' coaching staff, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. Before his two-year tenure in Los Angeles, Ham worked under Mike Budenholzer for nine years, the last four of them as the lead assistant with the Bucks. During his playing career, Ham also spent three seasons in Milwaukee (1999-2002).
Ham spoke with the Golden State Warriors about potentially joining Steve Kerr's coaching staff, The Athletic's Anthony Slater reported in late May. Days later, Marc Stein of The Stein Line reported that Ham had passed on an opportunity to rejoin Budenholzer with the Phoenix Suns.
Rivers arrived in Milwaukee in January after the team fired Adrian Griffin just 43 games into his head-coaching career. For his first few months on the job, his staff was a mixture of holdovers (Joe Prunty, Vin Baker, Patrick Mutombo, Trevor Gleeson) and coaches he brought with him (Dave Joerger, Rex Kalamian, Pete Dominguez).
In 2022-23, Ham's first year as a head coach in the NBA, he presided over a Lakers team that went all the way to the conference finals after going 43-39 in the regular season. The Lakers fired him after they went 47-35 and lost in the first round of the 2024 playoffs against the Denver Nuggets, the same team that eliminated them the previous season.
The Lakers, meanwhile, are in the process of hiring Ham's replacement. L.A. is awaiting word from Dan Hurley, UConn's title-winning coach who has become the Lakers' reported top choice.
