While playing for the Red Raiders, he gained national attention by shattering the backboard on a slam dunk during the 1996 NCAA Tournament against North Carolina.

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.

Ham then signed as free agent with the Washington Wizards (1997), Milwaukee Bucks (1999), Atlanta Hawks (2002) and Detroit Pistons (2003).

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.

On January 17, 2006, Ham was enlisted by the Philippine Basketball Association team Talk 'N Text Phone Pals as its replacement import for Damian Cantrell.

[7] He only played three games, averaging 16.7 points in the 2006 PBA Fiesta Conference Playoffs, as the Phone Pals eventually lost to Air21 Express in the series, 2–3.

[8] In 2006, Ham served as a studio analyst for Fox Sports Southwest's coverage of the Dallas Mavericks' playoff run.

In October 2011, he became an assistant coach on Mike Brown's staff with the Los Angeles Lakers, where he worked with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Dwight Howard in a player development role.

[15] He helped the Hawks reach the playoffs in four consecutive seasons including making it to the Eastern Conference finals in 2015.

In 2014 and 2015, Ham was part of the coaching staff that led the Atlanta Hawks to a divisional title and the number 1 seed in the 2015 Eastern Conference Playoffs.

Everything I’ve been able to overcome in my life, along with the people around me, it's been that spirit that was instilled in me as a youngster.”[32] In June 2011, Ham traveled to Venezuela as a SportsUnited Sports Envoy for the U.S. Department of State.

In this function, he worked with Kayte Christensen to conduct basketball clinics for 300 youth from underserved areas and met with Venezuelan sports officials.