The Milwaukee Bucks are keeping one of the most experienced voices on their bench. Former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham is staying on as an assistant under new Milwaukee head coach Taylor Jenkins, according to Eric Nehm and Sam Amick of The Athletic.
It is a smart move for a franchise that just blew up its coaching staff for the second time in three years. Continuity at the assistant level matters, especially when you have a new head coach trying to install his system and a roster that could look dramatically different by training camp.
Ham has deep roots in Milwaukee. He was an assistant with the Bucks from 2018 to 2022 under Mike Budenholzer, where he played a major role on the staff that brought the franchise its first NBA title in 50 years back in 2021. He left to take the Lakers head job after that championship run and spent two seasons in Los Angeles before getting let go.
His firing in LA was one of those moves that left people in the league shaking their heads. Ham went 90-74 over two seasons, made the playoffs both years, and got bounced by the eventual champion Denver Nuggets in his first postseason run. That is not exactly a disqualifying resume. The Lakers wanted a change and they made one, but Ham was reportedly stunned by the decision.
He returned to the Bucks last season as Doc Rivers’ lead assistant. Now Rivers is gone, Jenkins is in, and Ham has somehow become the constant. There is something poetic about that. The guy who got pushed out of LA has quietly outlasted multiple Bucks head coaches in his return.
Jenkins is going to need every bit of Ham’s experience. The new Milwaukee head coach is taking over a franchise in transition. The Bucks missed the playoffs last year and have been the subject of constant trade speculation around Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is reportedly open to a move out of Milwaukee for the first time in his career.
That trade speculation is going to define the Bucks offseason. Even if Giannis stays, the rest of the roster is almost certainly going to look different. Damian Lillard’s contract situation is complicated, the cap sheet is tight, and the team has limited draft assets to work with.
Ham’s presence gives Jenkins a connection to the locker room and a sounding board who has worked at the highest level. He has won a title. He has been a head coach. He has been fired and come back. That is the kind of experience you want on a staff when everything around the head coach is unstable.
This is also a story about how reputation matters in the NBA coaching business. Ham was being mentioned for the Pelicans job and other openings around the league. He could have held out for another head coaching opportunity. Instead he chose to stay with a team and a city he knows, working as the senior voice on a staff with a first-time NBA head coach in Jenkins.
Smart move from both sides. Ham gets to be a stabilizing force on a staff that needs one. The Bucks get continuity in a year where everything else is going to change. And Jenkins gets a championship-winning assistant coach who already knows the building, the front office, and the demands of coaching a star like Giannis.
If the Bucks are going to navigate this offseason without imploding, Ham’s presence is going to be a big reason why.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
