The Los Angeles Lakers held a press conference on Monday to introduce their new coach, Darvin Ham, who happened to be proud of his Christian faith and spoke openly about God's hand moving in his life.
A Lakers Coach With A Strong Faith Foundation
Faithwire highlighted that seasoned NBA Coach Ham began his speech thanking God for leading him to this point in his career. Ham explained that he grew up in a household where their belief in God is strong. The coach shared that he was able to overcome a lot of challenges in his life because of his faith in God.
"Timing is everything. Like I said, I put my faith in God. He's the master of all plans, and I just want to take this time to thank all of those teams that passed on me so I could end up right back where I need to be. It's all good. I'm good--trust me," Ham said.
"You live, you learn, you seek out an opportunity, and if you don't get it, you just keep getting better and keep trying to add more things to your repertoire," he added.
The Christian Headlines explained that Ham played in the NBA from 1996 to 2005 and became the Laker's assistant coach from 2011 to 2013. Ham moved to the Atlanta Hawks from 2013 to 2018 and the Milwaukee Bucks from 2020 to 2021 as an assistant coach.
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During his 1996 stint in the NBA, Ham was undrafted before he started the season under the Denver Nuggets, Church Leaders reported. Ham won the Detroit Pistons a championship in 2004 as part of the team. He also played for the Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers.
Ham filled in the shoes of Frank Vogel who was fired by the Lakers, making him the franchise's 18th head coach. This is Ham's first coaching job.
Fox News said the Lakers announced Ham as their next head coach earlier than the conference. In particular, the announcement came last June 3 after the two parties have agreed to a four-year contract. Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka pointed to Ham's strength of character and no-nonsense, hardworking approach to coaching as reasons for signing him in a multi-year contract. Pelinka stressed that Ham is the perfect fit for the franchise and will bring their much-sought competitive edge and toughness to the team.
Lakers Coach Unveils Plans
As per Lakers Daily, Ham has declared that part of his priorities for the next season would be to include NBA Superstar LeBron James, who already announced plans for retirement, HypeBeast said. But NBC Sports reported James had already made plans to buy his own NBA team. The Lakers Daily stressed that Ham would have to exert a lot of effort for James on his plans.
During the press con, Ham also spoke including NBA nine-time Most Valuable Player Russell Westbrook on the Lakers roster for the next season. Westbrook, who is in the final year of his $47 million contract, said he is tremendously enthusiastic to have Ham as the team's new coach. He looks forward to talking more with Ham in his new role on the team.
Bleach, on the other hand, highlighted that the planned changes Ham intends to implement in the team are necessary for their success. Ham reportedly ended the services of assistants John Lucas III, David Fizdale, and Mike Penberthy on Tuesday. Ham will be retaining Assistant Coaches Phil Handy and Quinton Crawford for the next season.
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