Darvin Ham becoming a member of Bucks as lead assistant coach, per supply: Why the reunion is sensible

By Eric Nehm, Jovan Buha and Lukas Weese

The Milwaukee Bucks are including Darvin Ham because the lead assistant coach on Doc Rivers’ workers, a crew supply confirmed Monday. Ham is returning to the place he developed his repute as one of many recreation’s greatest assistants from 2018 to 2022. Throughout Ham’s first stint with the Bucks, the crew gained an NBA championship in 2021, the franchise’s second title and its first since 1971.

ESPN was the primary to report the information of Ham becoming a member of Milwaukee.

Ham, 50, spent the final two seasons as the top coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers fired him on May 3, after they had been eradicated within the first spherical of the playoffs by the Denver Nuggets.

Rumors over Ham’s potential firing intensified deep into the Lakers’ season and appeared inevitable after they gained just one recreation of their best-of-seven playoff collection towards the Nuggets. The bottom second got here for the Lakers after they blew a 20-point second-half lead in Game 2 of the series.

Throughout Ham’s two-year tenure, the Lakers went 90-74 within the common season and 9-12 within the postseason.

Ham was additionally an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks from 2013 to 2018 after enjoying within the NBA from 1996 to 2005. He gained an NBA championship coming off the bench for the Detroit Pistons in 2004.

The Bucks completed 49-33 through the 2023-24 season. Milwaukee misplaced within the first spherical of the playoffs to the Indiana Pacers in six video games. Giannis Antetokounmpo, the two-time NBA MVP, was sidelined for your complete Pacers collection with a calf harm.

The Bucks have made the playoffs in every of the final eight seasons, with the spotlight being that 2021 championship 12 months when Ham was the lead assistant coach on Mike Budenholzer’s workers. Ham was beloved by gamers throughout his time as an assistant beneath Budenholzer.

Gamers appreciated Ham’s outgoing persona however famous that he was unafraid to have powerful conversations or let gamers hear about it after they weren’t enjoying as much as the teaching workers’s requirements.

Throughout his tenure in Los Angeles, Ham additionally spoke fondly of his time in Milwaukee and maintained his relationships with Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton.

After turning down the chance to reunite with Budenholzer, his mentor, in Phoenix earlier this offseason, Ham now has an opportunity to develop beneath one other adorned head coach in Rivers. Extra importantly, the Bucks job gives Ham an opportunity to rebuild his repute in hopes of touchdown one other head-coaching alternative.