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During the 2023 NBA playoff series between the Warriors and the Lakers, a series L.A. won in six games on the way to the Western Conference finals, coach Steve Kerr used the postgame interview podium several times to make public pleas to the NBA. He was flabbergasted, he insinuated, that the league and its officials were letting L.A. get away with as much flopping as they did in the early going of the series.
The Lakers, Kerr insisted, were flopping and, “being rewarded” for it.
A month later, appearing on the “#ThisLeague” podcast, Ham fired back at Kerr’s flopping comments. He indicated Kerr was, “playing chess, playing poker, whatever you want to call it, guys trying to give themselves any and every chance in every possible way to come out on top of a situation and be victorious.
“It’s lame as hell.”
Kerr, for one, has never been the kind of guy to hold grudges. Nor has Ham. So, soon after this season ended with Ham and the Lakers getting KO’d in the playoffs’ first round by the Nuggets, The Athletic is reporting that Kerr and the Warriors had a conversation with Ham to discuss a spot on his coaching staff.
Warriors’ Kenny Atkinson Might Be in for New Job
There was not much progress on a spot on the Warriors staff, however, and Ham is not likely to join the team. But beat reporter Anthony Slater says the Warriors are likely to add another coach to the team’s staff, and probably a high-profile assistant.
Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson, the former Nets coach who took the Hornets job two years ago before changing his mind and pulling out, is a top candidate for the Cavaliers. But, Slater wrote, the Warriors would look for a top name to add to the staff regardless whether Atkinson gets the job.
“League sources indicate the Warriors are contemplating a coaching staff addition regardless of whether the Cavaliers hire Atkinson, which would follow the Mike Brown and Jama Mahlalela departures in recent years and the tragic loss of Dejan Milojević this past January,” Slater wrote.
“The Warriors had some conversation with former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham in recent weeks, per league sources. That isn’t expected to materialize. But it is a signal of the Warriors’ desire to add a big-name assistant, and indications are they are in search of either a former head coach or former player to fill the role.”
Steve Kerr Has Hired Strong Top Assistants
Kerr has a history of taking on big-name assistants during his time on the Dubs bench, of course. Mike Brown has been a notable one, as has Atkinson, Alvin Gentry and Luke Walton. Others, like Steve Nash and Willie Green, got head coaching jobs even though they were not Kerr’s lead on-bench assistant.
As for Atkinson and the Cavaliers, he would appear to have the right mix of developmental chops—which he showed while he was with the Nets before the advent of the Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving pairing—to go with the winning experience he has gained with the Warriors.
In describing the ideal candidate for the Cavs, executive Koby Altman said, “Someone with a new approach, someone with a different voice, a fresh set of eyes to help us move forward. We’ve accomplished a lot in the last few years, getting to a conference semifinal, and we don’t want to be complacent.
“We feel we’re not far off.”
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