problem is its a perception that lakers should win right now, in reality they lack the personnel to do so. AD is always hurt and often gets punked by contemporary bigs, and Bron is not in his prime (obviously) anymore. Guys like Dlo and Reaves are sieves on defense and the FO traded away all their defensive guys who werent a complete shytshow offensively.
Perception is irrelevant. from the Owner/GM perspective, Lebron is on the last legs of his career. AD is in his prime. Both are all stars. They are trying to win now. If they weren't trying to win, they would've traded AD and not re-upped with Lebron. But they wanted Lebron in a Laker jersey when he broke the scoring record so I get it.
It was a job I don't think anyone really wanted, thus they hired a coach with no head coaching experience. It took them hiring Phil Jackson and then rehiring Phil Jackson for the Lakers to win under the Shaq/Kobe era's.
Ham is a coach you hire when you have young talent and are rebuilding. Darvin Ham played against Lebron. The Lakers needed a coach with a championship pedigree. He was a Lakers assistant for 3 year directly following Phil Jackson leaving. Lakers weren't contenders. Then he was with the Hawks and part of the championship Bucks team and that's it.
He wasn't really a sought after assistant coach. The Lakers really had no legit options. It is what it is. The Lakers sealed their fate the moment the Drafted Lonzo Ball. Two years prior they simply had bad luck in the lottery.
Drafting D'Angelo Russell was also a huge mistake, and he's actually the main reason why the Lakers weren't contenders.