Darvin Ham is returning to the Milwaukee Bucks to work under Doc Rivers as an assistant coach, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Ham was fired by the Los Angeles Lakers after two seasons as head coach in May, but will return to Milwaukee next season.
Darvin Ham is joining the Milwaukee Bucks as the top assistant coach to Doc Rivers, sources tell ESPN. Ham returns to the franchise after spending two years as the Lakers head coach. He had been highly sought-after among teams this spring. pic.twitter.com/k0yZeVKo1t
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 10, 2024
The hiring will mark a homecoming of sorts for Ham, who was assistant coach of the Bucks under Mike Budenholzer from 2018-2022 before going 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 a 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, losing in the first round of the playoffs twice and missing 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 brought in to coach the Bucks in January with the hope that he would lead them to another championship. Milwaukee advanced to the playoffs this season, but lost to the Indiana Pacers in the first round.
