Four NBA Coaches On The Hot Seat For 2020 Restart

The NBA’s upcoming return to play in Orlando at the end of July is an interesting period of transition for the league in a number of ways.

Four or five teams have a truly realistic shot at winning the championship, as the league transitions away from the dynastic Golden State Warriors. It’s a transition from times of quarantine to times of sports returning and giving us at least a sliver of normalcy, though this isn’t the proper forum to address the larger pandemic health issues this country faces. And to get to my actual point here, it could end up being a time of transition for some big name NBA coaches.

We’re not going to include legendary San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich here, who can leave that franchise any time he damn well pleases, but he’s going to be listed among names of coaches who may leave until he finally decides to end his Hall Of Fame career. But here are five coaches who could be feeling some immense pressure during this seeding and playoff period and could be transitioning elsewhere in 2020.

Mike D’Antoni, Houston Rockets

Another future Hall Of Fame coach, D’Antoni is famously on the last year of his contract after talks of an extension broke down in a very public manner last offseason with Houston majority shareholder Tilman Fertitta. It appears that his teams’ deep playoff runs and new ownership has shortened his hold on the job that short of leading the Rockets to the Finals, D’Antoni is going to be looking for new work next season.

Houston general manager Daryl Morey and D’Antoni went truly all in on the small ball, 3-point heavy team-building approach when their involvement in the four-team, 13 player trade that sent starting center Clint Capela and a first round pick in exchange for Robert Covington. It probably won’t work, but it’ll be fascinating to see MDA coach and go out his way. D’Antoni shouldn’t be out of a job for long if he wants it, as a couple of other teams featured in this article would be lucky to have him as their head coach. Could we see Tom Thibodeau or Jeff Van Gundy in Houston next season?

Brett Brown, Philadelphia 76ers

One incredibly terrible stroke of luck could have already changed Brown’s career for good. Had Kawhi Leonard’s incredible game-winning shot in Game 7 of the second round last year rimmed out and the Sixers win in overtime, Philadelphia could’ve quite plausibly won the title last season.

Had that happened, he certainly wouldn’t be in this conversation. While Brown made it to this season with his job intact, a season leading a team with tons of talent but mired in inconsistency could easily lead to his ouster. Philadelphia is 6th in the East going into Orlando, where its 29-2 home record is completely meaningless.

Brown has failed to integrate free agent signing Al Horford, whose game has seemingly cratered this season, and still can’t seem to figure out getting the most out of Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris while they’re on the floor together. In 612 minutes together on the floor over 38 games, that trio has only outscored opponents by a total of 29 points, per NBA.com.

Sixers general manager Elton Brand deserves his own coaching hire, and may get it if Philly doesn’t make a run to at least the second round and maybe the conference finals. Could we see D’Antoni back in Philadelphia, where he made a brief cameo several years back as a visiting assistant coach? Do we see former Brooklyn Nets coach Kenny Atkinson?

Billy Donovan, Oklahoma City Thunder

There’s no question that OKC’s been one of the league’s most pleasant surprises this season, thriving in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year. But Donovan’s contract does expire after the season, so it’s definitely possible that he may not return next season despite doing an amazing job in 2019-2020. Could the Thunder look for more of a younger, developmental approach as the team moves on from players like Steven Adams, Danilo Gallinari, Dennis Schroder and Chris Paul (if they can find someone to take his gargantuan contract)? Absolutely. But Donovan should be praised for his work this season regardless of what happens next.

Jacque Vaughn, Brooklyn Nets

Vaughn has been the interim coach since Brooklyn fired Atkinson on March 7, so the former Magic boss’ seat has been nice and toasty all year. Though I believe D’Antoni would be the ideal fit for the Nets going forward, all indications are that Vaughn will have a chance to prove himself during the seeding and playoff parts of the Orlando restart. It’s unfair that he’ll have to do that without Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, when he’s auditioning for a job that would include them in 2020-2021, but a lot of things about the NBA in 2020 is imperfect as we all live in a constant state of transition.