The ex-Golden State Warriors, Gilbert Arenas, suggests LeBron James‘ ego is why Darvin Ham failed to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to an NBA championship after he was replaced over the summer.
Ham held the role from 2022-2024 but was eventually axed after the Lakers failed to secure a second title since 2020, when LeBron and Anthony Davis led them to the crown during the Covid-19 pandemic.
LeBron James shuts down taunting fan
He did manage to win the NBA Cup in his final season, but it wasn’t enough to keep him in the role after they were dumped out of the postseason in the First Round by Nikola Jokic‘s Denver Nuggets.
He was subsequently replaced by JJ Redick and now the Lakers find themselves seventh in the Western Conference with a very similar .552 record after their defeat to the Detroit Pistons on December 24.
So there hasn’t been too much of a change in form and as a result, Arenas thinks it’s all down to one man: LeBron James, although the criticism seemed to almost be a back-handed compliment…
“Your star player’s probably smarter than you,” Arenas said on his podcast. “And the fact that your star player is smarter than you, that’s a hard job to have.
“You literally have to talk to LeBron‘s ego. For him to accept you, it’s like talking to some genius. You have to outsmart him.
“LeBron‘s basketball IQ is so high, if you don’t speak the same lingo as him, he’s not listening to you.”
Ham rips into Lakers
Ham has since returned to the NBA as an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks, who claimed the NBA Cup with a 97-81 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder and hold fifth in the Eastern Conference.
But time has not made him any fonder to LA as he rips into them and insists he deserved more than they were willing to actually give him.
“To do as well as I did, I swear to God,” Ham told Andscape’s Marc J. Spears. “Anywhere else I’m probably looking at an extension with what I did. I’m not talking about feelings. I’m talking actual facts.
“They go from not making it to the playoffs to the final four in the NBA, the conference finals. And then you win the in-season tournament, navigate through all the injuries, and win both of your play-in games to get to the playoffs.”
