Just two years ago, LeBron James tweeted, “So damn excited”, when the Lakers decided to hire Darvin Ham as their new coach. Now, they can’t even see eye to eye. The Lakers franchise then decided to fire Ham, who was 90-74, yet leading the team to 2 playoff series, with duels against the Nuggets, currently one of the best teams in the NBA. Ham held everyone together throughout injuries, health issues, and all the madness that ensued in the past two years in the franchise. He was a beacon of hope, and people really seemed to admire him for his potential. But somehow, the person who coached the winners of the in-season tournament got outplayed.

But then, the biggest star on the Lakers’ roster also met his limits. He reached a saturation point when it came to their Head Coach. After a crushing defeat to the Nuggets in the first round of playoffs, the team was flustered. Naturally, everyone was looking for a scapegoat, and it turns out, it was Darvin Ham. Anthony Davis did not shy away from speaking against the coach. The young players on the team were confused about who they should listen to – their coach or LeBron James. James went a few steps ahead and started to show his frustration on the court, in the past few months. Many leaked videos came out this season, where we can see how James does not appreciate what Darvin Hame does. In one such video, we can see him asking for the coach’s board.

The video clip is from a matchup between the LA Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks in 2023. James can be seen calling a time-out, with the next shot focusing on Darvin Ham, busy on his board scribbling away with the assistant coach, and then the shot is back on Bron. After a couple of seconds of looking around, he hollers “I got it, I got it… Give me the board!”

This is rendition we see today as well. Just a few weeks ago, after a match against the Golden State, LeBron James was seen paying absolutely no attention to whatever his HC was saying during the timeout. At the time, people only saw Austin Reaves paying little attention to Ham, but James was completely ignoring him. It could be partly because there were only 3 minutes left on the clock, and the Lakers were bound to lose, but still, the disrespect was obviously visible.

Darvin Ham has received the blame from his team, on and off throughout the season, whether it is his basketball IQ, his tactical adjustments, or a reluctance to change the player rotations. People have plenty to state for why James wouldn’t trust Ham. Even their starting lineups weren’t working all that well. They fell into a hole they couldn’t escape after the In-season tournament. Since then, the criticism has surmounted and affected his decision-making capabilities, which led to Austin Reaves getting benched to giving more time to Cam Reddish and Taurean Prince on the court. This was a slump for the Lakers. It eventually landed them away from the first 6 spots on the Western Conference rankings, going into the dreaded play-in tournament.

Ham still had two years left on his coaching contract with the LA side. But now, they are looking for the fourth replacement since King James arrived in 2018. To give you a better perspective, the coach will be the 8th one in just 14 seasons since Phil Jackson departed in 2011. This makes us wonder, is King James really a coach killer?

Is LeBron James a coach killer?

The ‘coach killer’ label has followed LeBron James for quite some time now, and the primary reason for this can be attributed to the fact that no matter what team he is in, his basketball talent and acumen pose a challenge for the Head Coach. After all, it is tough to work with a GOAT contender, purely because of their skill set.

Many times, other coaches were simply booted out of the team because their chemistry with LeBron did not fit in well. The first time this tag was given to him was when Paul Silas was fired in 2005. Silas was leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a great regular season ending, with the team in the 5th seed in the playoffs. But with just 18 games remaining, Silas was fired and was replaced by Brendan Malone as an interim coach.

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Then in 2010, the tag took center stage when Mike Brown was fired from the Cavaliers, even though James was a free agent at that time. Even though it was stated that James did not have any say in this particular decision, the fact that Dan Gilbert, the Cavs’ owner, wanted his advice added to the moniker. And then, once again, another HC, David Blatt, got fired, right in the middle of the season.

And if this wasn’t enough, Blatt was doing pretty good for his time. He had a great 30-11 record back then. However, when James probably deems fit, and the coaches seem to be a handful for him, he seemingly gets into the spot of a decision-maker.

While, we can agree that the fate of a coach shouldn’t fall right into a player’s hands, even when that player is LeBron James, many factors still should be considered when a team determines who gets to be the head coach where a basketball legend already resides.