LeBron James Confirms He's Not Retiring (SHOCKER!!!) and Darvin Ham Has Words For Mike Malone

It's official. During Wednesday's ESPY Awards, LeBron James confirmed he's not retiring and will return to the Lakers. You may go on living the lives you were already engaged in with no change whatsoever. But all jokes aside, while the news wasn't necessarily even news by this point, there was some interesting psychology with LeBron's theatricality, as well as what we suspect was actually going on in his head when he floated the idea of hanging up his sneaks for good.

In the meantime, Darvin Ham is nothing if not confident.

So when visiting the #thisleague UNCUT podcast with Chris Haynes and Marc Stein, maybe it shouldn't be surprising that Ham had some spicy moments. Those 10 teams that passed him up and hired other guys? They "****ed up, royally," he said. Denver coach Mike Malone, who (along with his team) spent an unusual amount of post-title time talking about beating the Lakers? Ham heard, and remembers. "Oh wow, bring up ‘Money Mike,’ the Lakers’ daddy, right? That’s what they call him now, the Lakers’ Daddy… God bless his soul. This shit ain’t over. God bless his soul.”

Could Lakers vs. Nuggets be one of the first rivalries to be boosted heavily by the two coaches, as opposed to stuff that happened specifically on the floor? Because that WCF wasn't super chippy. But now? As Darvin says, "This **** ain't over."

Finally, D'Moi Hodge hit 6 of his 13 3-pointers in Wednesday's SPL loss to the Celtics. He's now shooting about 41% from downtown in Vegas, on 9 shots a game. Hodge knows exactly what will get him in the league, and keep him there: Shooting and defense. And the two-way player out of Missouri, who is already 24 and doesn't have time to screw around if he wants to make it in the NBA, has a role model that Lakers fans will recognize and respect.

His choice shows tremendous self-awareness, and I'm sure impresses the Lakers.

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: At the ESPY Awards, LeBron James Confirms he's not Retiring

SEGMENT 2: Ham has words for Mike Malone.

SEGMENT 3: D'Moi Hodge has picked the right role model to gain a foothold in the NBA.

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