The Los Angeles Lakers went winless on their back-to-back road set against the Houston Rockets and Atlanta Hawks, plunging them below .500 again.
The loss to the Hawks wasn’t very surprising because Anthony Davis was ruled out for the contest after aggravating his groin in the loss to the Rockets the night before. However, the team looked listless against Atlanta and didn’t offer much optimism that that they’ll be able to get out of their funk any time soon.
All the losing has put people like head coach Darvin Ham under the microscope and it feels like he is coaching for his job with how poorly Los Angeles has looked on the floor. Players also seem to be turning on Ham as they’ve made several eyebrow-raising comments recently.
With Davis out, Ham opted to start Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood tweeted out “Lol” almost immediately after the lineup announcement was made, which many assumed was in response to not being in the starting lineup.
Lol
— 35 (@Chriswood_5) January 31, 2024
Wood was asked about the message and he said he was trying to quote tweet something and it wasn’t related to the lineup decision, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I meant to quote something but I didn’t have the quote, I thought I did and I just pressed send,” Wood said. “I couldn’t check my phone before because we had to go out, but it was an accident. I looked at it just now, it came off a certain type of way but I didn’t mean it that way… Not basketball related. Definitely not basketball related.”
Wood did add, however, that he is also eager contribute more on the floor if he’s given an opportunity to do so:
“I mean, I would love to do more. But I’ve been playing I think around 14-15 minutes a night and 20-22 minutes tonight. So if I have the opportunity to, I will definitely try to.”
It’s hard to take Wood’s explanation seriously given the timing and how the players have been responding when asked about Ham. Any player would be miffed about being passed up, and Wood likely was disappointed with the decision to start Hayes over himself.
Distractions like these are magnified amidst rough patches and it feels like the Lakers are holding on by a thread at this point.
D’Angelo Russell says it’s coach’s decision when to take Lakers players out of blowout
Ham’s decision to leave in the starters against Houston was puzzling because it was a blowout in the second half. D’Angelo Russell believes that teams should get one more push in the fourth quarter but ultimately the decision lies with the coach when players come out.
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