Tom Dundon must be devastated.
Everywhere the new Portland Trail Blazers owner looks these days, his NBA contemporaries are cutting massive checks like drunken sailors and making it that much harder for him to justify the penny-pinching ways that have defined his early tenure.
The Milwaukee Bucks, who continue to navigate the Giannis Antetokounmpo situation that will be front and center for the entire summer, wasted no time or money in replacing Doc Rivers with one of the top available coaches on the market. Per league sources, new Bucks coach Taylor Jenkins signed a long-term deal with a salary that is well north of $10 million annually. Jenkins isn’t the highest-paid coach in the league, as that honor goes to Golden State’s Steve Kerr at $17.5 million annually (for now, as he continues to contemplate whether to return). Miami’s Erik Spoelstra is second (approximately $15 million). And Jenkins, the former Memphis Grizzlies coach who was once a Bucks assistant in Antetokounmpo’s early days, is up there now.
Then came the Monday news that the Dallas Mavericks had gone big with their front-office hire, landing former Denver Nuggets and Toronto Raptors executive Masai Ujiri to replace the fired Nico Harrison and lead this goodbye-Luka Dončić, hello-Cooper Flagg era. Considering Ujiri’s hefty Raptors salary (reportedly more than $15 million) was known to be a significant factor in his Toronto departure last June, the widely held belief here is that it cost Mavericks owner Patrick Dumont a pretty penny to bring him to town.
Moves like these are not the NBA norm, but they’re hardly the exception either. At minimum, they are the types of moves that convince players, coaches and executives alike that there is a level of seriousness about winning that reflects their own. The Trail Blazers, meanwhile, are still in the midst of a messy coaching search that will eventually reach a fascinating conclusion.
Will they hire someone at a league-low salary level — in the $1 million to $1.5 million range — as has been widely reported as a strong possibility? Or might they invest more earnestly in someone like, say, Tiago Splitter, the incumbent interim Trail Blazers coach who handled an unprecedented situation with Chauncey Billups masterfully, led Portland to an unexpected playoff berth and has widespread support in his locker room? Even if the Blazers go with a coach with no previous head-coaching experience, it shouldn’t be tough to top what is believed to be the lowest head-coaching salary in the league, that of the Sacramento Kings’ Doug Christie ($2 million annually).
As league sources said on Monday, the Trail Blazers have cast a net so wide that the list of candidates could be almost 20 coaches long and, in the end, will consist of names procured by both Dundon and general manager Joe Cronin. What’s more, league sources say, there is no clear messaging as of yet about a possible timeline on the hiring. And while Dundon has pushed back on the notion that he’s cutting corners as a matter of what he believes is good business, the proof will be in the paycheck.
More coaching carousel talk…
Speaking of coaches who won’t come cheap…
The (expected) firing of Orlando’s Jamahl Mosley on Monday sparked the latest round of Billy Donovan chatter around the league, as the former Chicago Bulls coach has long been pegged as a possible replacement for both the Magic and New York Knicks (if Mike Brown were to be dismissed). There was no immediate clarity as to whether Orlando plans to pursue him, though, with some league sources wondering whether his history with the organization might be seen internally as a reason to go in a different direction. Or, one could argue, maybe it becomes a better-late-than-never sort of storybook ending.
The 60-year-old Donovan, if you remember, backed out of a deal to become the Magic coach in 2007 and decided to return to Florida instead. It was a sliding doors moment of sorts, with Stan Van Gundy deciding to rebuff overtures from the Kings at that same time and agree to terms with the Magic. The Kings, in turn, hired Reggie Theus away from his post at New Mexico State. Donovan, of course, eventually made his way to Oklahoma City (in 2015) before joining the Bulls (in 2020).
Donovan isn’t the only widely respected, veteran head coach who’s hoping for a return to the sidelines, though, as league sources say Tom Thibodeau is also very interested in a comeback.
The 68-year-old was fired from his Knicks post last summer but is looking for the right fit for his coaching future again. And yes, league sources say, that includes the prospect of a Bulls reunion if the Reinsdorfs and new executive vice president of basketball operations Bryson Graham, who was hired away from the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, had interest.
As for the league’s other coaching vacancy, New Orleans has been deliberating over finalists Darvin Ham (a Bucks associate head coach under Rivers), Steve Hetzel (Brooklyn assistant), Sean Sweeney (San Antonio associate head coach) and Rajon Rondo (a coaching associate with the Bucks). Mosley has long been believed to be a possible candidate if he became available, but it’s unclear as of yet if he’ll be added to the list.
Putting the ‘draft’ in draft reform
When the NBA unveiled its “3-2-1” draft reform proposal to general managers in a virtual meeting on April 28, launching this pitch that would punish tankers into oblivion with the hopes of restoring competitive integrity to the game, it came as a bit of a surprise to those on the call.
In the wake of the previous GM meeting, there was a widespread belief that Option No. 1 — one of three ideas that had been discussed — was the leader in the clubhouse. That option featured an 18-team lottery, with the bottom 10 teams each having an 8 percent chance at the top pick and the remaining 20 percent odds split among the other eight teams.
But the league’s basketball operations braintrust, with the NBA’s executive vice president of strategy and analytics Evan Wasch leading the way, had instead opted to pull elements from all three scenarios before landing on the “3-2-1” approach. And while this has now become a one-horse race, with that proposal carrying the day heading into a May 28 vote at the league’s next Board of Governors meeting, there are still more discussions — and possible changes — to come.
Given the complex nature of this system and the many rules and regulations that will dictate it, league sources say there has been a push from GMs to get clarity on how specific scenarios that might come into play would be handled. Case in point: While the “3-2-1 “proposal forbids teams from landing the No. 1 pick in consecutive years, what if a team lands the No. 1 pick by way of its own pick one year and then gets it again by way of another team’s pick (that it owns) in the subsequent year (or vice versa)? As of now, league sources say, the NBA’s stance is that the team would be allowed to keep both of its No. 1 picks in such a scenario.
But as is the case with this entire process, everything remains up for debate until they get to the BOG finish line (or somewhere close to it). The league’s competition committee met on the matter last week, with a select group of GMs, coaches and player representatives taking part as always. There’s another GM meeting, in person, scheduled during the league’s draft combine in Chicago next week.
As a reminder, 23 of the league’s 30 governors must approve the plan for it to become official. If it passes, there’s a stipulation that this system will be used only through the 2029 draft before they revisit the matter. That timing, per league sources, is tied mostly to forthcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations (the current deal runs through the 2029-30 season but has a mutual opt-out that could end it on June 30, 2029).
