Report: Benching of D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves during season ‘did not sit well’ in Lakers locker room

It seems Lakers players were just as perplexed and frustrated with the benching of Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell as fans were in one of the many mistakes by Darvin Ham this season.

Now that the Lakers' season is over, the focus becomes on the team's future and whether that includes head coach Darvin Ham, whose job is reportedly in “serious peril.”

Before one looks ahead, we must look back and see where things went wrong and why the Lakers fell short. One constant this season has been complaints out loud and subliminally about head coach Darvin Ham.

Whether it was wondering why it took so long for Rui Hachmura to earn a starting spot, D'Angelo Russell reflecting on a lack of communication with Ham during last season's playoff run, or recent reports of players unhappy with the benching of Russell and Austin Reaves during the season, there is plenty of second-guessing regarding the decision-making by the Lakers head coach.

Shams Charania, Sam Amick and Jovan Buha of The Athletic broke down this turning point of the season, and the internal reaction to it, as a key negative aspect of Darvin Ham's season in an article posted just after the final buzzer of Monday’s Game 5 loss to the Nuggets.

The decision to bench both Reaves and Russell, the team’s consensus third- and fourth-best players, did not sit well with many within the organization and locker room, according to team and league sources.

Throughout the series and most of the season, however, team officials and players believe Ham’s fluctuating rotations, game plans and lack of adjustments led to an underperforming group. It created discontent within the locker room, which became palpable across the franchise.

Ham’s decision was viewed as a panic move that backfired, a divergence from the team’s stated goals of developing reps and continuity with the core players and groups from last season. Instead, those lineups and groupings didn’t play as much as they could have, even as bench or closing lineups.

It was a peculiar move to bench two of your key players at the time, but it looks even worse in hindsight. Reaves and Russell were important players and automatic starters the rest of the way for the Lakers.

While they have their flaws, no one on the bench can come close to their production. Benching them was clearly a mistake.

Dave McMenamin of ESPN also reported on this peculiar move by Ham.

The Lakers won 12 of their next 16 games, climbing to No. 4 in the Western Conference standings. The run culminated in Las Vegas, with the Lakers topping the Indiana Pacers in the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament.

All that winning came with a catch. The internal expectations to win the championship in June only heightened, while the fallout from shuffling his lineup — first benching Reaves and later D’Angelo Russell, while sticking with Taurean Prince even after Jarred Vanderbilt had returned from a left heel injury that cost him the first 20 games of the season — hurt Ham’s reputation both inside and outside the organization, sources told ESPN.

Reaves and Russell played a big role in the Lakers finally getting things right and making a run in the second half of the season. But even as the team got things right, the vibe of the team, as reported by McMenamin, was more of what could have and should have been.

Yet rather than the team’s resiliency being applauded as the prevailing sentiment surrounding the late-season success, multiple team sources told ESPN that the Lakers should have — or even would have — finished better than No. 7 in the West and avoided the play-in tournament had Ham settled on that starting lineup much sooner.

“The job of a coach is to make the best out of what you have,” one team source told ESPN. “And he wasn’t doing that.”

Looking back on this Lakers season, there are many “what if” questions. With these key decisions being the wrong moves, it's hard not to think the Lakers head coach is responsible for a handful of losses.

What would, say, a five-game swing mean for Los Angeles? That's the difference between the seventh seed and the third seed. It means avoiding the play-in, having home court in a series and not having to play a juggernaut like Denver to kick off the postseason.

Sports is a world of “what ifs” and excuses, but one thing is clear: the Lakers will have to look long and hard at their head coaching position.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.