Darvin Ham Sr. (born July 23, 1973) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Texas Tech Red Raiders before playing eight seasons in the NBA from 1996 to 2005. He won an NBA championship playing with the Detroit Pistons in 2004. Ham also had a brief international experience in Spain and later in the Philippines, as well as in the NBA Development League in 2007 and 2008. College career After attending Saginaw High School, Ham went to Texas Tech University in 1993. While playing for the Red Raiders, he gained national attention by shattering the backboard on a slam dunk during the 1996 NCAA Tournament against UNC. The dunk shifted momentum for Texas Tech, catapulting them to the first Sweet Sixteen in school history. The dunk was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Ham won the NCAA slam dunk contest in 1996, following former college teammate Lance Hughes' win in 1995. In his 90-game college career, he averaged 8.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.5 turnovers in 22.9 minutes, on top of .597 FG and .498 FT shooting. Professional playing career Ham was signed by the Denver Nuggets as a free agent on October 1, 1996. He was then traded by Denver to the Indiana Pacers for Jerome Allen in February 1997. Ham then signed as free agent with the Washington Wizards (1997), Milwaukee Bucks (1999), Atlanta Hawks (2002) and Detroit Pistons (2003). In his eight-season 417-game NBA career, he averaged 2.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.8 fouls in 12.4 minutes, on top of .518 FG shooting, though he was not an outside threat, making only 4 3-point field goals in his career. Ham competed in the 1997 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, and was a member of the 2004 NBA champion Detroit Pistons. His powerful slams earned him the nicknames "Dunkin Darvin" and "Ham Slamwich", as a fan favorite when playing for the Milwaukee Bucks, that carried on into the rest of his career. In his first postseason in Milwaukee, Ham started all five games of the Bucks’ 3-2 first round loss to the eventual Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers, while averaging 5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game. During his time in Milwaukee, Ham became the namesake of the "Hammer play",