Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Everyone has to wonder if Darvin Ham will return as coach next year. There has been wide speculation that some players on the team have thrown insinuated shots at Ham in particular. There have also been instances of bad body language around the coach during timeouts. One has to wonder if this it for the second-year coach. However, it wouldn’t be shocking if Jeanie Buss decides to keep Ham for one more season, given how quick she was to defend him earlier in the year when everyone wondered if he was on the hot seat.
LeBron James, the aging superstar, will get to decide himself if he wants to opt in or opt out of the last season on his contract soon. As widely known, James has expressed a desire to team up with his son, Bronny. But, there seem to be no guarantees that a team would be willing to take a chance on him this summer, and Bronny also hasn’t closed the door on transferring to a different college next year.
This presents a dilemma for the 39-year-old. Should he opt in and play the last year of his deal in Los Angeles as his son gets another year to mature as a player? Or should he just opt out and go somewhere he can get a better chance to win his fifth championship? Plus, he has openly talked about not being sure if he was willing to hang it up now and riding into the sunset. Along with his Summer Olympics duties in Paris, James will be busy making decisions about his future.
D’Angelo Russell also has a player option, but his situation is drastically different. It has already been rumored that Russell plans to opt out and test the free agency market, and it’s hard to blame him. After the trade rumors sizzled up to the deadline, Russell went on a tear during the start of 2024, and put together one of the hottest stretches of his career. That was before another pretty rough playoff performance, though.
