Darvin Ham is returning to the Milwaukee Bucks to work under Doc Rivers as an assistant coach, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Ham was fired by the Los Angeles Lakers in May after two seasons as head coach, but will return to Milwaukee next season.
Darvin Ham is joining the Milwaukee Bucks as Doc Rivers’ top assistant coach, sources tell ESPN. Ham returns to the franchise after spending two years as head coach of the Lakers. He was highly sought after by teams this spring. pic.twitter.com/k0yZeVKo1t
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 10, 2024
The hire will mark a homecoming of sorts for Ham, who was an assistant coach of the Bucks under Mike Budenholzer from 2018 to 2022 before heading to Los Angeles. Budenholzer and Ham led Milwaukee to a championship in 2021. Ham also played for Milwaukee from 1999-2002 during his career as an NBA forward.
Ham was fired after the Lakers lost in the first round of the playoffs. The Lakers won the NBA championship in 2020 but have struggled since then. They lost twice in the first round of the playoffs and missed the postseason entirely in 2022. Ham led the team to a deeper postseason run in 2023, but lost in the conference finals to the Denver Nuggets, the eventual NBA -champions.
Ham will be second in command under Rivers, who was hired in January to coach the Bucks in hopes of leading them to another championship. Milwaukee advanced to the playoffs this season, but lost to the Indiana Pacers in the first round.
