The New Orleans Pelicans and Phoenix Suns assistant coach Willie Green are reportedly nearing an agreement for Green to become the franchise’s next head coach, ESPN’s Andrew Lopez and Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Wednesday evening.
Green was reported as the frontrunner for the position earlier in the week by Wojnarowski with Wednesday’s news moving the process one step closer to completion. At the time of the report, Green was on the sidelines with the Suns in Game 4 of the NBA Finals where Phoenix led 2-1 in the series.
The Pelicans’ search process was a lengthy one, but still nearly twice as fast as last season. Stan Van Gundy parted ways with the franchise on June 16, which will be almost exactly a month before Green being hired. Last year, the wait between Alvin Gentry’s firing and Van Gundy’s hiring was 67 days.
Green would likely not join the team until the completion of the Finals.
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