5 head coaches for the Lakers to target after firing Darvin Ham

The Lakers have moved on from Darvin Ham, but who should they target moving forward? Here’s a look at five potential names.

The Lakers have finally parted ways with Darvin Ham after a week of deliberation. Now, the search begins again for a new head coach and, this time, the talent pool appears incredibly thin.

Last time around, the likes of Nick Nurse and Doc Rivers were oft-linked names to the Lakers. Now, though, the pair are freshly hired and, in Doc’s case, proven to not be worth hiring even if he wasn’t.

Which means the names are likely going to have to get a bit more creative this time. The former head coaches available aren’t all that inspiring and not many championship-level coaches available.

Do the Lakers try to run it back with someone in the former category and hope for better results or do they dare risk hiring another first-time head coach again?

The coming weeks will dictate how they conduct their search, but here’s a list of five names the Lakers could, or maybe should, consider.

Kenny Atkinson, Terry Stotts

I’m grouping the first two names on this list together because their inclusion is for the same reason. Back in 2022, the pair, along with Ham, were finalists for the Lakers' head coaching job.

Since then, Atkinson accepted and then bailed on the Hornets head coaching position before ever stepping into the position. He’s remained an assistant for the Warriors throughout that, though.

As for Stotts, he started out this past season as the lead assistant for the Bucks before also bailing out early in the season.

Both are still available. Atkinson probably moves the needle a bit more than Stotts to me, but neither would necessarily blow me away.

Mike Budenholzer

On paper, Budenholzer is probably the most decorated candidate available. He does have a ring with the Bucks, but was also fired by them after an embarrassing five-game loss to the Heat in the playoffs.

His time in Milwaukee had the cloud of whether he’d be fired hanging over it even as he led them to a title. He’s a very imperfect coach, even if also a championship one.

The biggest concern here is that he is literally the person who taught Ham what he knows. Many of the principles used by Ham were Budenholzer principles, like leaving opponents open at the 3-point line and daring them to beat you.

Can the Lakers justify firing Ham only to hire his mentor?

Phil Handy

The last two names are on the track of getting creative as both would be first-time coaches.

There may be no one on the Lakers bench more respected by the players than Handy. He’s been with the team since LeBron James’ second season in Los Angeles.

In 2022, Handy spoke about wanting to become a head coach. Reports also had surfaced that if Frank Vogel had been fired in-season, Handy would have been the interim coach.

The Lakers, though, gave him very little consideration in their last coaching search. Not that this should necessarily impact their decision, but keeping him through a second coaching change would be very tricky, too.

JJ Redick

Admittedly, this is the biggest reach. Redick has not coached at any professional level or capacity. But he not only interviewed for the Hornets, he’s considered a “serious candidate” for the position.

The selling point here is that anyone who has watched his new podcast with LeBron James will know the respect LeBron has for him, which certainly matters.

He’s someone who has a lot of experience in the league as a player, is very intelligent and is all-in on analytics. Anyone who is a former player is going to relate to the locker room better, but can he hang in terms of gameplans, in-game adjustments and the other aspects of being a coach?

If you were to hire him, the bench would need to be a very experienced one in terms of head coaches. The reports were that was going to be the case for Ham but that never happened.

It seems Redick is going to get ta job sooner than later. Can the Lakers hire another first-year head coach with this one having even less experience than the last?

Want to give your thoughts on who should be the next Lakers head coach? Come join us on Playback on Friday night to talk Ham’s firing and the potential names linked to the job at 7 p.m. PST!

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.