When Mike D’Antoni informed the Houston Rockets on Sept. 13 that he would not be returning as head coach, the expectation was that he would soon land a lead job elsewhere in the NBA.
That apparent gamble does not seem to have paid off.
As of Friday, D’Antoni was finalizing a deal with the Brooklyn Nets to be an assistant on the bench of new head coach Steve Nash, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Nash, of course, was D’Antoni’s star point guard during the “Seven Seconds or Less” era of the Phoenix Suns in the mid-2000s.
The Nets should be a contender in the Eastern Conference next season, thanks to the expected return of superstar Kevin Durant from injury. So the possible silver lining for D’Antoni is that while he won’t be a head coach, he’s still likely to have a key coaching role in meaningful games, and he’ll be doing so alongside a close friend in Nash.
ESPN story on Mike D'Antoni finalizing an assistant coaching deal to reunite with Brooklyn Nets coach Steve Nash. https://t.co/CnLS8AnDlu
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 30, 2020
The domino that seemed to work against D’Antoni’s head coaching prospects was the unexpected choice by the Los Angeles Clippers to oust Doc Rivers and promote top assistant Ty Lue. Before then, D’Antoni appeared likely to get the Philadelphia job. But the 76ers pivoted to Rivers when he came available late in the process, and none of the other openings (largely rebuilds) made as much sense for a veteran coach.
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Now 69 years old, it remains to be seen whether D’Antoni will get another opportunity as an NBA head coach. He’ll be 70 when the next wave of vacancies arrives in the 2021 offseason.
D’Antoni ranks No. 20 in all-time wins as an NBA coach, and No. 22 in coaching victories during the playoffs. He finished his Houston tenure (2016-17 through 2019-20) in the No. 2 spot in both categories, trailing only Hall of Fame coach and two-time NBA champion Rudy Tomjanovich.
D’Antoni is being replaced with the Rockets by Stephen Silas, who was the top assistant to Rick Carlisle over the last two seasons in Dallas.
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