Getty Darvin Ham of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Darvin Ham called out the Los Angeles Lakers after losing to the Los Angeles Clippers on April 5.
The Lakers lost to the Clippers by a final score of 125-118. They are now 41-39 on the season. The purple and gold have two games left in the regular season. They face the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz.
The Lakers Can’t Beat the Clippers
The Lakers can’t beat the Clippers. LAC has won 11 games in a row against LAL.
The LA Clippers have now won 11 straight against the Lakers and 36 of the last 43 games.
The Lakers, of course, have 17 championships in franchise history, while the Clippers have zero. LAC has never even reached the NBA Finals.
The Lakers and Clippers were projected to meet in the 2020 Western Conference Finals. However, the Clippers blew a 3-1 series lead to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Semifinals and All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George struggled immensely in Game 7. Leonard finished with 14 points while shooting 6-of-22 from the field, while George put up 10 points on 4-of-16 shooting.
Meanwhile, behind the stellar play of Anthony Davis and LeBron James, the Lakers won the 2020 championship over the Miami Heat at the Walt Disney World bubble in six games. James averaged 29.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 8.5 assists en route to winning his fourth Finals MVP Award. Davis, meanwhile, put up 25.0 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.
The Clippers are in fifth place in the Western Conference standings, while the Lakers are in seventh place. The top six seeds automatically qualify for the playoffs, while seeds 7-10 make the play-in tournament.
The Lakers Are Considered a Landing Spot for Carmelo Anthony
On April 2, Alex Kirschenbaum of Sports Illustrated wrote that Carmelo Anthony is a player the Lakers could sign since they have one open roster spot.
“LA specifically needs a little point-of-attack defensive help on the perimeter, but also a little more frontcourt offense,” Kirschenbaum wrote. “The 39-year-old Anthony, who last played in the NBA for LA in 2021-22, remains a high-level shooter, and at this stage in his career would just be happy to still be rostered.”
One of the best players in NBA history, Anthony appeared in 69 games for the Lakers last season. He averaged 13.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.0 assists while shooting 44.1% from the field, 37.5% from beyond the arc and 83.0% from the free-throw line. The 10-time All-Star and future Hall of Famer was fifth on the team in scoring, third in 3-pointers and fourth in win shares.
During an interview with Malika Andrews of ESPN on December 12, 2022, Anthony sounded off about his NBA future: “I love the game. I will say that. But I realize there’s a lot of things that’s not in my control. So I just sit back and let it play out, and whatever it’s gonna be, it’s gonna be and I accept that. I’m at peace with that. I’m cool. I get to watch my son play, you know, train him, be around him, come to his games. So these are the things that, you know, for a long time I haven’t had a chance to do. So now I can be that father and the man that I need to be. So I’m cool, man. I would love to play. I love the game. I’m still in the gym every single day. If the opportunity presents itself, it presents itself, but it’s not something that I’m pressing about. I still love it. I still love the game.”
Anthony has career averages of 22.5 points and 6.2 rebounds. He has earned over $262 million in his NBA career with the Nuggets, New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers and Lakers.