Milwaukee Bucks Rumors: Darvin Ham to get second interview with Pacers

Via a report from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham is expected to get a second interview with the Indiana Pacers.

Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham is a busy man these days.

The former player turned lead assistant coach for Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer has been linked to numerous head coaching jobs around the league during this one of a kind coaching carousel.

More from Bucks News

That carousel continued spinning Friday afternoon where, during an appearance on ESPN’s The Jump, Brian Windhorst reported that Ham is among a few candidates that will get a second interview with the organization. From Windhorst:

"“If you can believe it, the Indiana Pacers have interviewed more than 20 candidates for this opening over Zoom and now they’re scheduling second interviews and there’s still a long list.I’ve heard guys like Dave Joerger, an assistant in Milwaukee, Darvin Ham, 76ers assistant Ime Udoka are among the guys getting a big opportunity here. And of course, our colleague, Chauncey Billups.”"

All of this follows a report a couple of weeks ago, first broken by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, that Ham as well as Bucks assistant coach Charles Lee had been among the many interviewees for Indiana’s vacancy.

With one door recently closing, another door has opened for Ham as he looks to take the next step in his coaching career.

After all, Ham had previously been on the shortlist for the Bulls’ search for their new head coach before they settled on former Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan earlier this week. Ham had reportedly imparted a strong impression during the Bulls’ search as we touched on earlier this week.

Now this opportunity with the Pacers is far from a given and the organization is certainly going through an extensive pool of candidates, but the opportunity couldn’t be more different to the Bulls’ on the surface.

Over the last few seasons, the Pacers have shown themselves to be a competitive squad, always punching above their weight under former head coach Nate McMillan. But for the consistency they showed during the regular season, the Pacers have struggled to get outside of the first round since they reached the Eastern Conference Finals back in 2014 during the days of Paul George, Frank Vogel and so on.

Their recent first round exits haven’t been for a lack of talent with building blocks such as former Buck Malcolm Brogdon, Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner. Even with questions surrounding Oladipo’s future a year out from free agency, that’s quite a formidable foundation to have at your disposal.

That’s provided that Ham gets the gig, of course. Nevermind the fact that the Pacers are leaving no stone unturned in the search itself, but they have been consistently linked to coaching free agent Mike D’Antoni. Whether that proves to be a smoke screen of some sorts we’ll soon find out.

Next. Internal growth will have to come with creativity. dark

But as was the case with how far along he got in the search for the Bulls’ coaching job, Ham is well past his due of getting a shot of being a head coach in this league. It’s only a matter of when and where it will happen at this point.

Home/Bucks News