Stephen A. Smith Blames LeBron James and JJ Redick’s Podcast’s Timing for Putting Darvin Ham Under the Scanner

It's been a while since Darvin Ham was fired by the Los Angeles Lakers as their head coach. The primary reason behind the decision was the subpar season that the Lakers had this year, which prompted the franchise to look for some major changes. However, ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith believes that LeBron James starting his new podcast prompted Ham's eventual firing. In fact, SAS also thinks that LBJ colluded with JJ Redick through their new podcast to put Ham's coaching under the scanner.

The media veteran said that the timing of the podcast makes him question the intent behind starting it in the first place. He said that LeBron knew about the kind of challenges that Ham was facing and intentionally decided to talk about the Xs and Os of basketball at the highest level with another savant of the game to further highlight Ham's supposed inadequacy.

Smith believes that once everyone saw the kind of knowledge Redick possesses about the game, the noise became louder for him to replace Ham in LA.

Defending his past take on the matter, SAS said on First Take, "What I was saying on the air with Windy last week and Molly was that, couldn't have started it during the playoffs? Couldn't have started it after Darvin Ham lost the job? Did you have to start it in the middle of the damn season when he's [Ham is] on the hot seat?"

Host of the show Molly Qerim responded to Stephen A.'s claim by pointing out that if LeBron wanted his head coach fired, did he really needed to concoct an elaborate plan like this.

SAS immediately cleared his stance by stating that he is not putting those allegations on LeBron. He doesn't believe that LBJ orchestrated a plan to push Ham out. But he is only mad about the timing of the podcast because it did put Ham's chances of survival in LA on thin ice.

According to Smith, Ham's standing became weaker as the podcast picked up steam. Months later, the podcast has become one of the primary reasons why Redick is being considered a frontrunner for the job.

It's been a tough few weeks for Lakers fans as their franchise is still without a head coach. The hunt for the job started with several people in mind but ended up being mostly about Redick, James Borrego, and Dan Hurley. The UConn legend was even offered a lucrative six-year deal worth $70 million, but he ended up declining it to stay back in Connecticut.

After that, we are back to ground zero where it looks like Redick will be the one to be named the next head coach for the Lakers. According to Shams Charania, the Lakers were just testing the waters with their offer to Hurley.

He believes that they still want to give the position to Redick. Whatever the case might be, chances are we will get the big news once the NBA Finals series between the Mavericks and the Celtics is over.