Lakers News: Darvin Ham Caught Rocking Out To A Philly Classic In Philly

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham was photographed bopping to a song from a Philadelphia native while L.A. was getting shots up ahead of its impending bout with the 76ers tonight.

Dave McMenamin of ESPN captured the moment during the Lakers' morning shootaround:

‘What We Do’ on the aux cord had the Lakers feeling good at shootaround this morning pic.twitter.com/QdEO7G6tBU
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 9, 2022

The Wells Fargo Center was blaring Freeway's classic cut "What We Do," featuring verses from Jay-Z and Beanie Sigel. Freeway is of course a North Philadelphia native, Sigel hails from South Philly, and Jay-Z obviously hails from Brooklyn.

How does coordinating workout soundtracks over the arena PA work anyway? Should Los Angeles be limited to L.A. artists only when getting reps in enemy arenas? What's the road trip etiquette for this kind of thing?

In this writer's head at least, I was envisioning a soundtrack featuring only Nipsey Hustle, NWA, Ice-T and/or Body Count, Kendrick Lamar, Rage Against The Machine, and maybe some more strictly rock stuff like Tool and Van Halen to spruce things up.

Yes, I jest, and obviously this cut is a banger and there's nothing wrong with rocking out to it (in fact it would be weird if Ham and co. didn't, now that I think about it), but hearing a Philadelphia-based artist being played on the Philadelphia 76ers' loud speakers during the enemy club's workout got all these thoughts percolating. That's a pretty slick strategy when it comes to attempting to get in the heads of the opposition.

Here's the original track in full:

Freeway has mainly been a Jay-Z guy, alternately being inked to Hov's Roc-A-Fella Records and Roc Nation, along with a quick stint on Cash Money Records.

The 44-year-old cult favorite's most recent full-length album, "Think Free," was released on New Rothchilds/Roc Nation in 2018.

Tonight's action tips off at 4:30 p.m. PT, and Los Angeles anticipates it will have at least LeBron James back in the fold after the 37-year-old All-Star sat out Wednesday's defeat to the Toronto Raptors. L.A.'s road trip will conclude Sunday in Detroit, and presumably their shootaround will feature every cool Motown artist under the sun.

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