Former Lakers guard says Darvin Ham apologized for making a mistake

Former Los Angeles Lakers guard Patrick Beverley recorded a recent episode of his podcast, The Pat Bev Pod, and revealed that former coach Darvin Ham has apologized. Ham was waived by the Lakers earlier this offseason after the team was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

“I’m in Vegas, gambling. I see Coach Ham walk by. Remember, I haven’t seen Coach Ham in person since I left the Lakers. Coach Ham came to me, what is he doing. I don’t know his movement, I’m accurate. He, I could have five minutes. I just want you to know, Pat, I’m sorry, you know, as a coach, you shouldn’t have apologized.

“Pat, you were right, you need to practice more. Hell, you need to do more. You can’t just earn the talent.”

The Lakers are not a team that practices much, partly because of the older players on the roster. Apparently, when Beverley was on the team, she told Ham to practice her team more, but Ham was reluctant to do so.

Beverly went on to say that Ham has had a lot on the plate as the Lakers’ head coach. Dealing with all the personalities could not have been an easy task.

“He’s had a lot on his plate. You’ve got Russ. You’ve got AD. You’ve got Bron. There’s a lot going on. He’s not going to listen to Pat Bev, not at that point.”

Beverley was traded from the Lakers to the Orlando Magic at the 2022-23 NBA trade deadline, so he hasn’t been with the Lakers that long. But he was careful to make his presence known at all times.

While it’s big for Ham to open up to a former player like this, it was his decision making that ended up getting him fired. His inability to make in-game adjustments and use of different rotations caused problems throughout the roster.

Los Angeles felt they needed a better communicator as their head coach, so they brought in former NBA guard JJ Redick to replace him. Ham landed with the Milwaukee Bucks as an assistant coach, continuing his NBA career.

More Lakers: All-Star ranks Lakers’ LeBron James below Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan in GOAT race