Darvin Ham might return to Milwaukee Bucks: Reports

Darvin Ham will reportedly rejoin Milwaukee Bucks to work as Doc Rivers' assistant coach. After two seasons as head coach, Ham was fired by the Los Angeles Lakers in May. However, he will rejoin Milwaukee for the next campaign. He spent two years with Los Angeles and finished with a record of 90-74. Even though he led the club to the Western Conference Finals in 2023, losing in the first round this season was too much to take. 

The 50-year-old was a well-liked assistant coach who appeared to have a promising future as a head coach. Not that Ham was the only factor in Los Angeles' seventh-place finish in the West and first-round defeat. Staff can only design so many strategies around the fact that D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves are the third and fourth-best players in the postseason.

Darvin Ham's hire will be a homecoming of sorts for him, as he was the Bucks' assistant coach under Mike Budenholzer from 2018 to 2022 before moving to Los Angeles. Budenholzer and Ham guided Milwaukee to the title in 2021. Ham also played for Milwaukee from 1999 to 2002 as an NBA forward.

Darvin Ham will be second in command

Ham was dismissed after the Lakers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA title in 2020, but have struggled subsequently, losing in the first round of the playoffs twice and missing the whole postseason in 2022. Ham led the club to a deeper postseason run in 2023, but they were defeated in the conference finals by the Denver Nuggets, who went on to win the NBA championship. 

Under Doc Rivers, who was hired to coach Milwaukee Bucks in January in the hopes of winning another title, Ham will be second in command. Milwaukee made it to the postseason this year, but they were defeated in the opening round by the Indiana Pacers.