Lakers Fans Want Darvin Ham Fired... Now. Barkley Says Blame Players and Rob Pelinka, not Ham.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers

WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?

While not exactly the sentiment of every Lakers fan... it's the sentiment of many when it comes to the expected dismissal of Darvin Ham from his gig with the Lakers. After all, reports following LA's Game 5 loss to the Nuggets earlier in the week suggested Ham's job was all but gone. Subsequent reports say the Lakers are still moving down that path, potentially as early as the end of the week. Which, to be clear, is basically today. So if they know they want to do it, and are continuing to leak that they're going to do it... why haven't they done it?

Well, one reason might be the fallout from the last time they fired a coach. You may remember the Lakers received some flak, and lost out on opportunities to interview desired candidates, after they leaked that Frank Vogel was out and it was reported basically at the buzzer of their final game, before Frank Vogel even reached the podium. So, hey, don't do that again! But is this way any better, whether to be respectful to Ham or to burnish the team's reputation?

What could they be doing, beyond PR and news cycle management? Certainly the Lakers ought to be doing due diligence, making sure they like potential candidates out there more than they like the idea of trying to make it work with Ham. After all, the guy did have a reasonably promising first season before things went south this year, and isn't far off from being one of the more sought after head coaching candidates out there.

Maybe they're double checking with all the critical stakeholders not only about whether they're ok with Darvin going, but also what type of coach would make sense to replace him, and whether that hypothetical coach would be available. So maybe all of these things are happening, but if the Lakers have their minds made up, they ought to get it done sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, is all of this attention on Ham fair? Some hoops minds think he's getting too much criticism for how the team's season turned out. And does all of this distract from criticism Rob Pelinka should be getting?

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: The Lakers haven't canned Ham yet. Why?

SEGMENT 2: What should the Lakers be doing with this time?

SEGMENT 3: Is Pelinka escaping criticism?

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