The Los Angeles Lakers have several major decisions on their hand after the 2023-24 season ended abruptly with a first-round loss to the Denver Nuggets in five games. Anthony Davis, coming off of arguably one of his best seasons as a pro, has three years remaining on his contract, while superstar LeBron James has a player option worth $51.4 million for next season.
The decision surrounding James is one of the biggest facing the Lakers, however they have little control and must leave most of the leg work up to James and his agent, Rich Paul. The biggest decision L.A. has complete control over, though, is what to do with their head coach. Darvin Ham has yet to impress through two seasons, and all signs are pointing to him being fired from the position.
And while firing a coach after two seasons may be a bit hasty, it’s actually the performances of James and Davis in 2023-24 that could trigger L.A. to find a new leader, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
But James’ continued ability to stave off Father Time and Anthony Davis coming off perhaps his most complete season as a Laker, team sources said, has left L.A. believing that the championship window for this core has not closed, and if a different voice is needed to lead the group, the franchise will make the financial commitment to do so.
If James and Davis had another injury-riddled season or did not play up to par, perhaps the question would have been whether or not to keep Ham and reset the roster. But given that the Lakers had several great seasons from James, Davis, D’Angelo Russell and more, coaching seems to be the scapegoat for the early exit.
And that is not without good reason. The Lakers led for nearly 70% of their first-round series against the Nuggets, but managed only one win in five games. That type of inability to hang on to leads in crunch time can almost directly be reflected on coaching.
It’s unclear what options are going to be available for the Lakers this offseason in the head coaching department, but if James and Davis play the way they did this season, a quality coach should help fix a lot of their issues, especially if they are indeed willing to pay top dollar to get one.
Anthony Davis limited by shoulder injury in Game 5
L.A. got some bad luck with Davis being bumped in the shoulder by Michael Porter Jr. and immediately falling to the ground in obvious pain. Davis was dominating for the first two-plus quarters.
While he was able to stay in the game at first, Davis was not able to move his left arm much, clearly playing compromised. He eventually went back to the locker room to get the shoulder worked on and although he returned, it was more of the same due to his limited mobility.
After the loss, Davis detailed what happened and just how limited he was on the floor.
“I guess it was like a little stinger. I just lost function, lost feeling from like my neck all the way to my hand,” Davis said. Then I got back in the game and I get hit again by KCP, just made it a little worse. But obviously knowing the importance of the game, I just tried to get some feeling and stuff back in my hand in the back with my trainer and then just tried to come back out there and just help the team get the win.”
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