Darvin Ham Sr. (born July 23, 1973) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

coach and former player who is the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the Los Angeles Lakers of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA). He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Texas Tech Red Raiders The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, Texas. The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders, while the school's other women's teams use the "Red Raider ...

before playing eight seasons in the NBA from 1996 to 2005. He won an

NBA championship The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...

playing with the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

in 2004. Ham also had a brief international experience in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and later in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, as well as in the NBA Development League in 2007 and 2008.

College career

After attending

Saginaw High School Saginaw High School (part of the Saginaw City School District) is located in Saginaw, Michigan, USA. The student enrollment is 593 students. History The school was established in 1865 as East Side High School. Alice Freeman Palmer, who later be ...

, Ham went to

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sy ...

in 1993. While playing for the Red Raiders, he gained national attention by shattering the backboard on a

slam dunk A slam dunk, also simply known as dunk, is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball above the horizontal plane of the rim, and scores by shoving the ball directly through the basket with one ...

during the 1996 NCAA Tournament against UNC. The dunk shifted momentum for Texas Tech, catapulting them to the first Sweet Sixteen in school history. The dunk was featured on the cover of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

''. Ham won the NCAA slam dunk contest in 1996, following former college teammate Lance Hughes' win in 1995. In his 90-game college career, he averaged 8.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.5 turnovers in 22.9 minutes, on top of .597 FG and .498 FT shooting.

Professional playing career

Ham was signed by the Denver Nuggets as a free agent on October 1, 1996. He was then traded by Denver to the Indiana Pacers for Jerome Allen in February 1997. Ham then signed as free agent with the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

(1997),

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

(1999),

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

(2002) and

(2003). In his eight-season 417-game NBA career, he averaged 2.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.8 fouls in 12.4 minutes, on top of .518 FG shooting, though he was not an outside threat, making only 4 3-point field goals in his career. Ham competed in the 1997 NBA

Slam Dunk Contest The NBA Slam Dunk Contest (officially known as the AT&T Slam Dunk) is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) competition held during the NBA All-Star Weekend. ''Sports Illustrated'' wrote "the dunk contest was the best halftime inventio ...

, and was a member of the 2004 NBA champion

. His powerful slams earned him the nicknames "Dunkin Darvin" and "Ham Slamwich", as a fan favorite when playing for the Milwaukee Bucks, that carried on into the rest of his career. In his first

postseason The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

in Milwaukee, Ham started all five games of the Bucks’ 3-2 first round loss to the eventual Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers, while averaging 5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game. During his time in Milwaukee, Ham became the namesake of the "Hammer play", now a widespread NBA offensive concept. In 2005, Ham was a participant in the Basketball Without Borders program that was located in Johannesburg, South Africa and later in 2015 he participated in the Dominican Republic. On January 17, 2006, Ham was enlisted by the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...

team

Talk 'N Text Phone Pals Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

as its replacement import for

Damian Cantrell Damian Heath Cantrell (born May 17, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player. High school career Cantrell attended Santa Clara High School, where he was a standout athlete: he was named Athlete of the Year in his senior year in ...

. He only played three games, averaging 16.7 points in the 2006 PBA Fiesta Conference Playoffs, as the Phone Pals eventually lost to

Air21 Express The Air21 Express were a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) that debuted in the 2011–12 season. The team debuted as the Shopinas.com Clickers during the 2011–12 PBA Philippine Cup. In 2014, the fra ...

in the series, 2–3. In 2006, Ham served as a studio analyst for

Fox Sports Southwest Bally Sports Southwest is a Texan regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group (a joint-venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios), and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts regional c ...

's coverage of the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

' playoff run. He then became a member of the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

summer league team in the Pepsi Pro Summer League from July 10–14, 2006. Ham later on appeared in the 2006 preseason with the

New Jersey Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

. In 2007, Ham had a preseason stint with the Mavericks but was waived on October 24, 2007. He was then drafted third overall in the 2007

NBA D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

draft by the

Albuquerque Thunderbirds Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

. On April 4, 2008, the Thunderbirds traded Ham to the

Austin Toros Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

Coaching career

In October 2008, Ham was named an assistant coach for the Thunderbirds. He later served as their head coach. In October 2011, he became an assistant coach on Mike Brown's staff with the Los Angeles Lakers, where he worked with

Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely r ...

Pau Gasol Pau Gasol Sáez (, ; born July 6, 1980) is a Spanish former professional basketball player. He was a six-time NBA All-Star and a four-time All-NBA team selection, twice on the second team and twice on the third team. Gasol won two NBA champion ...

, and

Dwight Howard Dwight David Howard II (born December 8, 1985) is an American professional basketball player for the Taoyuan Leopards of the T1 League. He is an NBA champion, eight-time All-Star, eight-time All-NBA Team honoree, five-time All-Defensive Team m ...

in a player development role. In June 2011, Ham traveled to

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

as a

SportsUnited Formerly known as SportsUnited, Sports Diplomacy is the U.S. Department of State's sports diplomacy division. Sports Diplomacy uses sport to help youth around the world develop important off-the-court skills, including leadership, mutual understan ...

Sports Envoy for the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

. In this function, he worked with

Kayte Christensen Kayte Lauren Christensen (born November 16, 1980) is an American color commentator for the Sacramento Kings and former professional basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association. Early life and education Kayte Lauren Christens ...

to conduct basketball clinics for 300 youth from underserved areas and met with Venezuelan sports officials. In so doing, Ham helped contribute to SportsUnited's mission to promote greater international understanding and inclusion through sport. He then followed up on these efforts and conducted a second set of clinics for more than 200 youth in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

. This was the first State Department-sponsored sports exchange with Myanmar. In 2013, he joined the

' coaching staff. He helped the Hawks reach the playoffs in four consecutive seasons including making it to the Eastern Conference finals in 2015. In 2014 and 2015, Ham was part of the coaching staff that led the Atlanta Hawks to a divisional title and the number 1 seed in the 2015 Eastern Conference Playoffs. Along with his help in bringing Atlanta to the playoffs, he also assisted four of their starting five into becoming 2015 NBA All-Stars. In 2018, he followed

Mike Budenholzer Michael Vincent Budenholzer (born August 6, 1969) is an American professional basketball coach who is the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Before joining the Bucks, he spent five seasons as head coac ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

, where during the 2018–2019 season, Budenholzer won the NBA's Coach of the Year award. Ham helped lead the team to its best record since 1972. In

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, Ham helped coach Milwaukee to its second NBA title in franchise history, beating the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

in six games in the 2021 NBA Finals for their the first championship since 1971. Ham was hired as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers on June 3, 2022.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , align="left" , 1996–97 , align="left" ,

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, 35 , , 3 , , 8.9 , , .525 , , .000 , , .485 , , 1.6 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 2.3 , - , align="left" , 1996–97 , align="left" ,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, 1 , , 0 , , 5.0 , , 1.000 , , .000 , , .500 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 3.0 , - , align="left" , 1997–98 , align="left" ,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, 71 , , 3 , , 8.9 , , .529 , , .000 , , .473 , , 1.8 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 2.0 , - , align="left" , 1999–00 , align="left" ,

, 35 , , 21 , , 22.6 , , .555 , , .000 , , .449 , , 4.9 , , 1.2 , , 0.8 , , 0.8 , , 5.1 , - , align="left" , 2000–01 , align="left" ,

, 29 , , 13 , , 18.6 , , .488 , , .667 , , .592 , , 4.2 , , 0.9 , , 0.6 , , 0.7 , , 3.8 , - , align="left" , 2001–02 , align="left" ,

, 70 , , 2 , , 17.3 , , .569 , , .143 , , .504 , , 2.9 , , 1.0 , , 0.4 , , 0.5 , , 4.3 , - , align="left" , 2002–03 , align="left" ,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, 75 , , 1 , , 12.3 , , .447 , , .000 , , .481 , , 2.0 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 2.4 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;" , 2003–04† , align="left" ,

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, 54 , , 2 , , 9.0 , , .493 , , .500 , , .600 , , 1.7 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 1.8 , - , align="left" , 2004–05 , align="left" ,

, 47 , , 0 , , 5.9 , , .459 , , .000 , , .387 , , 0.7 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 1.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 417 , , 45 , , 12.4 , , .518 , , .250 , , .494 , , 2.3 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 2.7

Playoffs

, - , align="left" , 1999–00 , align="left" ,

, 5 , , 5 , , 28.8 , , .647 , , .000 , , .333 , , 5.8 , , 1.4 , , 0.2 , , 1.6 , , 5.0 , - , align="left" , 2000–01 , align="left" ,

, 14 , , 6 , , 9.4 , , .600 , , .000 , , .550 , , 1.4 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 0.5 , , 2.1 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;" , 2003–04† , align="left" ,

, 22 , , 0 , , 4.9 , , .500 , , .000 , , .000 , , 0.6 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 0.2 , , 0.7 , - , align="left" , 2004–05 , align="left" ,

, 14 , , 0 , , 1.7 , , .333 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 0.2 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 55 , , 11 , , 7.4 , , .569 , , .000 , , .516 , , 1.2 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 0.3 , , 1.3

Personal life

Ham is the son of Wilmer Jones-Ham, the first female

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Saginaw Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...

, serving from 2001 to 2005. Darvin Ham is married to Deneitra Ham. They both went to Texas Tech. His son, Darvin Ham Jr., played for

Northwood University Northwood University (NU) is a private university focused on business education with its main campus in Midland, Michigan. Opened in 1959, more than 33,000 people have graduated from the institution. History Northwood University opened as Nort ...

, and was an assistant coach at Northwood for 4 years, through the 2021–22 season. As of the 2022–23 season, Ham Jr. is an assistant coach for the

Cleveland Charge The Cleveland Charge are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Cleveland, Ohio, and are affiliated with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team plays its home games at the Wolstein Center in downtown Cleveland. The fra ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

. Ham is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

. Ham has said, “First of all, I want to thank God. Coming from where I come from, I was raised in a household with strong, spiritual faith, belief in God and his Son Jesus Christ, so I want to start with that. Everything I’ve been able to overcome in my life, along with the people around me, it's been that spirit that was instilled in me as a youngster.”

References

External links

*
NBA biography of Darvin HamD-League profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ham, Darvin 1973 births Living people 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American sportspeople African-American basketball coaches African-American basketball players Albuquerque Thunderbirds coaches Albuquerque Thunderbirds players American expatriate basketball people in the Philippines American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks assistant coaches Atlanta Hawks players Austin Toros players Basketball coaches from Michigan Basketball players from Michigan CB Granada players Denver Nuggets players Detroit Pistons players Indiana Pacers players Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Liga ACB players Los Angeles Lakers assistant coaches Los Angeles Lakers head coaches Milwaukee Bucks players Milwaukee Bucks assistant coaches New Jersey Nets players New Mexico Thunderbirds coaches Philippine Basketball Association imports Small forwards Sportspeople from Saginaw, Michigan Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball players TNT Tropang Giga players Undrafted National Basketball Association players Washington Wizards players