The Los Angeles Lakers have requested permission to interview Darvin Ham for their head coaching position.

Ham served as an assistant coach with the Lakers from 2011 until 2013.

Ham has most recently been an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Lakers are searching for a replacement for Frank Vogel. 

The front office of the Los Angeles Lakers is internally blaming pressure from Klutch Sports for their acquisition of Russell Westbrook during the 2021 offseason, multiple sources tell Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report.

Klutch Sports represents both LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who met with Westbrook and reportedly pushed for the trade.

Westbrook was a bad fit with the Lakers when sharing the floor with James and Davis, while also unable to win games without them as the lead star. 

Westbrook has one season remaining on his contract with the Lakers and the franchise will likely need to attach future draft capital to him in order to acquire a useful player in return via trade. 

Jerry West demanded a retraction and public apology from HBO and "Winning Time" producer Adam McKay for their "baseless and defamatory portrayal" of West in the television series.

"Winning Time falsely and cruelly portrays Mr. West as an out-of-control, intoxicated rage-aholic," alleged Skip Miller, West's attorney at Miller Barondess LLP law firm in Los Angeles.

HBO did not respond to comments.

A letter sent on behalf of West demanded a retraction within two weeks of the its receipt. The letter also included statements from former players and employees, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Mitch Kupchak.

"He never broke golf clubs, he didn't throw his trophy through the window. Sure, those actions make dramatic moments, but they reek of facile exploitation of the man rather than exploration of character," said Abdul-Jabbar in a statement.

Others denied they ever saw West act with rage or drink alcohol as portrayed in the series.

"I never saw or heard Jerry lose his temper with anyone. I also never saw or heard Jerry go on an angry rant or tirade nor did I ever see or hear Jerry scream or yell at anyone. That was not his personality," added Kupchak.

The Los Angeles Lakers are widely expected to trade Russell Westbrook this offseason. It's also expected that any deal involving Westbrook will bring back long-term salary to Los Angeles.

Despite being rumored to have interest in trading Westbrook to the Charlotte Hornets, it's unlikely the Lakers will take back Gordon Hayward in a deal. The Lakers are likely to prioritize players with cleaner injury histories, given the recent availability issues they've had with LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Hayward has missed 71 games of 154 games in his first two seasons with the Hornets. He also missed considerable time with the Boston Celtics over the prior three seasons.

Rob Pelinka has two seasons remaining on his current contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Pelinka received an extension last year when he was promoted to vice president of basketball operations.

With Pelinka conceding the roster construction didn't work and firing Frank Vogel as head coach, a disappointing 22-23 could leave the Lakers with no option but to part ways with him. 

When the Lakers missed the playoffs in 2019 and Magic Johnson stepped down from his role running the team, Pelinka was armed with cap space, talented young players and their draft picks to go out and trade for Anthony Davis before assembling a championship supporting cast around him and LeBron James. This offseason, the Lakers will be limited in their ways to improve the team as they're saddled with Russell Westbrook's expiring contract and can only trade their 2027 and 2029 first round picks.

Jeanie Buss reportedly views Pelinka as an extension of Kobe Bryant, which would make a decision to change direction a personal one.

Facundo Campazzo has been suspended one game without pay for forcefully shoving Los Angeles Lakers guard Wayne Ellington to the floor from behind, and Ellington has been fined $20,000 for escalating the incident with a threatening comment on social media postgame.

The incident, for which Campazzo was assessed a Flagrant Foul 2 and ejected, occurred with 7:24 remaining in the second quarter of the Nuggets’ 146-141 overtime loss to the Lakers on April 10 at Ball Arena.  

Campazzo will serve his suspension Saturday when the Nuggets face the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center in Game One of their first round series in the 2022 NBA Playoffs.

During the 2021 offseason, LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Jared Dudley checked on the potential desire of Bradley Beal to request a trade from the Washington Wizards to the Los Angeles Lakers.

James, Davis and Dudley also met with Damian Lillard, DeMar DeRozan and Russell Westbrook.

The Lakers eventually traded for Westbrook, who was the potential difference maker that would be the easiest to acquire. 

Beal will be a free agent this offseason and is widely expected to re-sign with the Wizards. It is also doubtful that the Lakers would have been able to put together an attractive enough package to entice the Wizards to trade him there compared to what rival teams like the Philadelphia 76ers and Golden State Warriors had available to them last offseason.

The 2019 offseason marked the creation of three new superteams in the Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving signed with Brooklyn, while the Lakers had traded for Anthony Davis to pair with LeBron James in June. A few days into free agency, the Clippers simultaneously traded for Paul George and signed Kawhi Leonard.

Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN writes that "Several top league executives assert that devising a strategy around chasing big-name stars doesn't hold the same appeal it once did."

To date, the Lakers won a championship in 2020 but were eliminated in the first round in 2021 and missed the playoffs altogether in 2022. Brooklyn advanced to the second round in 2021, while the Clippers have reached the Conference Finals in 2021.

"Assembling a superteam is something very, very few organizations can do," one senior league executive tells ESPN. "And we're seeing that even fewer can actually pull it off because superstars aren't enough -- it has to be the right superstars in the right culture. What this current era of NBA basketball is showing us is that going all-in -- whether it's with cap space or all of your loot -- to go acquire two or three of the top talented players in the league and having either underperforming infrastructure or a complete lack of roster depth, you're doing nothing favorable for your organization."

History shows that a superteam has a better chance to succeed with an organizational anchor. Outside of the 19-20 Lakers, no team comprising a core without a homegrown star as one of its two best players has won a title in more than 40 years.

The Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks enter the playoffs as the favorites in their respective conference. Both teams feature multiple homegrown stars while they have added veteran point guards via trade in Chris Paul and Jrue Holiday respectively. 

LeBron James is considering playing out his current contract with the Los Angeles Lakers rather than sign the two-year, $97.1 million extension available to him this offseason, according to sources that spoke with Sam Amick of The Athletic. 

An extension this summer would tie James to the Lakers through 2025.

When asked about an extension during his exit interview, James hedged on his future. 

“The conversation hasn’t been talked about,” James began. “Technically it’s because (with) the collective bargaining agreement (it) cannot even be discussed until later on in the year. So, you know, I know what’s out there. But we can’t even — myself and Rich — can’t even begin to talk with Rob [Pelinka], or the front office at all, because of the collective bargaining agreement. So (when) we get to that point, we’ll see.”

James prioritized flexibility and freedom during his second stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but he has so far taken more a long-term view with the Lakers.

James has also stated repeatedly that he would like to someday play on the same team as his son Bronny James. 

The Los Angeles Lakers are in the market for a new head coach after parting ways with Frank Vogel. There is one man that would reportedly make their superstar very happy.

Sources told The Athletic that LeBron James would be very enthused if the Lakers were to hire Mark Jackson as their next head coach. Jackson is currently a broadcaster for ESPN/ABC. He's interviewed for various jobs since being let go by the Golden State Warriors in 2014.

Jackson went 121-109 in three seasons as the Warriors coach. Jackson led Golden State to back-to-back playoff appearances after the team had missed the previous five postseasons.