LeBron James Admitted He 'Vetoed' Darvin Ham's Coaching
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 9: LeBron James #23 and Head Coach Darvin Ham of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on during the game against the New Orleans Pelicans on February 9, 2024 at Crypto.Com Arena in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jim Poorten/NBAE via Getty Images)
For years, NBA fans have joked about LeBron James coaching every team he's on. Well, it might be true to a certain extent.
During the latest episode of his "Mind the Game" podcast, James revealed that he recently shot down Darvin Ham's coaching tactics. This was during the Lakers-Clippers game on Feb. 28.
The four-time NBA champion said he vetoed Ham's decision to constantly switch defenders on Kawhi Leonard and James Harden.
"We had switching built in versus Kawhi and versus James [Harden] and whatever the case may be, and I vetoed it in the second half," James said. "I know T-Lue more than any other player that's been with T-Lue, and I know he plays target ball too. It got to a point where I knew, in order for us to get back into the game, switching anybody onto Kawhi is not favorable for us. So I might as well get ready for the Wizards. So, I vetoed it."
Perhaps an argument can be made that James should've kept that information to himself, but this goes to show how elite his basketball IQ is.
The Lakers were down by 19 points heading into the fourth quarter against the Clippers, and yet, they found a way to leave Crypto.com Arena with a victory. James led all scorers with 34 points.
