There are 30 NBA teams, 29 of which have coaches who were hired to be fired. The exception is the San Antonio Spurs, where Gregg Popovich will be on the bench until he decides it is time to do something else.
He is 1,000,000-to-1 to be the next coach fired. The odds on Luke Walton are quite a bit shorter. So who will be the next NBA coach to get fired?
In a stunning (sarcasm intended) development, Los Angeles Lakers president Magic Johnson dressed down Luke Walton earlier this week as the LeBron’s were getting off to their shaky start … which makes Walton the No. 1 coach in the hot seat as the NBA season moves into the month of November.
Woj was all over the story on TV and the Internet during the day Friday, but here is one thing Woj did not report: Back when Walton was a player, he did not hold the highest opinion of Kobe Bryant. In fact, he considered him selfish … something I was told in confidence, inside a locker room while researching a column on the NBA’s biggest diva.
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Walton’s biggest supporter may turn out to be Jeannie Buss, but if LeBron wants Walton replaced … the sharp money is on LeBron getting his way. Jeannie is known to change her mind from time to time. Just ask Phil Jackson.
“I feel like I have a great relationship with management, yes,” said Walton, who spoke with general manager Rob Pelinka after practice and before the Lakers flew to Portland. Asked if he feels he has job security, Walton replied, “I feel like I’m coming down here to do my job and coach.”
As Tyronn Lue learned a few days ago, what you did last season (stuff like making it to the NBA Finals) matters very little if a new season gets off to a difficult start. The only guy exempt from that rule is Lloyd Bridges, whose job is to guide the Atlanta Hawks to the worst record in NBA history.
Heck, Bridges could outlast Pop if Pop decides to start playing poker in Maui with old buddy (and business partner) Don Nelson.
But back to the main point: Who will be the next coach fired?
SCOTT BROOKS, WIZARDS
Getting booed off your own home court is never a good sign, but that is what happened to the Wizards Friday night against the Thunder in D.C.
The Wizards are allowing an NBA-high 123.9 points per game and are dead last in the Eastern Conference alongside Larry Drew’s Cleveland Cavaliers. Their point differential of minus-12.1 is second only to Phoenix’s 14.0, but one mitigating factor working in Brooks’ favor is that Dwight Howard has played only one game.
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The litmus test game could come Sunday against the Knicks in D.C. If Brooks goes, lead assistants Tony Brown and Robert Pack could step in on an interim basis. Brown was 11-34 as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets in 2015-16 before being replaced by Kenny Atkinson.
MIKE D’ANTONI, ROCKETS
Chris Paul told D’Antoni and the rest of the coaching staff to clear out during a timeout against Brooklyn on Friday night so that he could conduct a players-only huddle. Make of that what you wish.
Here is the thing with Houston: They lost two elite defenders in Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Trevor Ariza, and they remain alive in the Jimmy Butler sweepstakes until a trade gets done. With that much uncertainty on the roster he is coaching, D’Antoni has a tough task: Keeping players who could be dealt at any minute, focused on the task at hand.
They are 0-4 at home and 2-5 overall, so the uncertainty is clearly having a tangible effect.
TOM THIBODEAU, TIMBERWOLVES
A source who knows everything told GetMoreSports during the preseason that Thibodeau was “trying to get himself fired,” and I have heard anecdotal evidence from a well-sourced NBA reporter that owner Glen Taylor ducked a question regarding whether this is true.
Taylor was clearly upset that the Wolves entered training camp with the Butler situation unresolved, and Butler is now driving the “maybe I will play, maybe I will not play” bus as the Wolves travel up and down the West Coast.
Butler was always loyal to Thibs, and his fate could be determined by the quality of the players the Wolves get back when they eventually move Butler. At 4-5, they are performing relatively well. Is there another coach that could resurrect Derrick Rose the way Thibs has?
BILLY DONOVAN, THUNDER
A four-game winning streak has taken him off the hot seat, one would think. And let’s not forget that OKC is playing without Andre Roberson, who turns them into an entirely different team defensively.
Rotations have changed following the departure of Carmelo Anthony, and adjustments take time. Sam Presti is a patient GM, and panic attacks never happen from him — unless he is micromanaging the team’s internal editorial content. Worse coaches have survived worse starts.
FRED HOIBERG, BULLS
What would be the point? Everyone in Chicago knew this was going to be a throwaway season, and Hoiberg is getting a ton of production out of Zach LaVine (27.2 ppg) is his first season after getting super-paid. That is not always the case in the first season after a player gets a massive contract. Also, Lauri Markkanen has not played yet.
