The real reason Darvin Ham's seat hasn't warmed up this season

Under any other circumstances, the head coach of a thoroughly disappointing title contender would be held to a higher standard. Why has Darvin Ham not faced any such questions by Lakers leadership?

More than halfway through the season, the only real consistency for the Lakers has been disappointment. Every time it’s looked like they might put together a run, they suffer yet another excruciating loss that launches the organization into more speculation about the team’s leadership.

Following the latest most disappointing loss of the season, and yet another string of thinly veiled criticisms Lakers players had for Darvin Ham, sources continue to stress that Ham’s seat isn’t getting any hotter. At the very top of the organization, Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka have remained steadfast with their support.

It’s worth examining the why here, though.

How is it that Ham has had so many voices leak concern throughout the season about the job he’s done — remember, as many as six sources spoke to The Athletic earlier this year, plus those I’ve spoken to — yet his seat remains as cool as cement in the winter? I’ll come back to this in a second.

It was no coincidence that, after the Athletic published their piece questioning Ham (which came a couple days after I’d been reporting similar concerns¹), Buss and Pelinka went on a pseudo leaking media tour. The Athletic ran another piece on Ham, this time explaining that he still had the full support of those who would decide on his job and Chris Haynes spoke at the following TNT game about that dynamic, reporting very similar talking points.

Bill Plaschke even wrote that anyone even thinking about firing Ham is dumb and that’s when I knew it was the right move.