SO SAD: “By the end of the week,” Darvin Ham is expected to be fired.

SO SAD: “By the end of the week,” Darvin Ham is expected to be fired.

It’s becoming clearer and clearer that Darvin Ham’s time as Lakers head coach appear to be coming to an end with the latest report suggesting he could be fired by the end of the week.

NBA: Playoffs-Los Angeles Lakers at Denver Nuggets

The Lakers have yet to make a move on Darvin Ham after their season came to an end against the Nuggets on Monday, but the writing certainly continues to be written on the wall.

The immediate rumors in the aftermath of the loss really painted the picture, including that Ham’s job was in “serious peril,” as reported by The Athletic and ESPN separately. And while the noise died down after that, it’s not because there’s been any change in trajectory.

On Thursday on The Athletic NBA Show podcast, Jovan Buha reported that Darvin’s future is likely to be known by the end of the week.

“The latest I’ve heard is the plan is still to move on from Darvin at some point, likely by the end of the week, potentially as early as tomorrow. Then, the head coaching search will start. Already started to hear some names from different people. Not going to comment on it yet until the Darvin situation is finalized. But, from what I’ve heard the last couple days, the plan is to still move on from Darvin.”

This front office has a history of overcorrecting on previous mistakes. Last time they fired a coach, they didn’t even let Frank Vogel hit the locker room after the buzzer sounded on the final game of the regular season before the reports surfaced. It created a remarkably awkward press conference for him and an embarrassing situation for the Lakers.

This time, they’re correcting the situation by leaving the coach dangling for multiple days when everyone knows what the outcome is going to be. It would also be peak Lakers to wait to Friday news dump the firing of a head coach, likely just before the start of the playoff games to try to drive the attention away from them.

Whatever the means may be, the ends are going to see Ham likely gone after two seasons as Lakers head coach. It will send the team into a third search for a head coach in five seasons. And with the clock on LeBron’s career ticking down to it’s final moments, it’s imperative they get this one right.