With Steve Nash’s hiring at the Brooklyn Nets, the number of black head coaches in the NBA now stands at 5, whereas there were 14 in 2012.
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The NBA is a predominantly African-American league, comprising over 70% of black players. One would expect that they are somewhat proportionately represented among the head coaches, but that is not the case. With the firing of Nate McMillan, there are now only 5 African-American head coaches remaining in the NBA. Who are they, and how much job security do they have?
In 2012-13, there were 14 Black coaches in NBA. When the playoffs started, there were 8. Now it’s 5: LAC’s Doc Rivers, ATL’s Lloyd Pierce, CLE’s JB Bickerstaff, DET’s Dwane Casey and PHX’s Monty Williams. Still openings in New Orleans, Chicago and Indiana.
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) September 3, 2020
Black coaches NBA: Who are the African-Americans coaching in the NBA?
Doc Rivers is the longest-tenured black head coach in the NBA. In 3 separate coaching stints, Rivers has 20 years of NBA coaching experience under his belt. His current spell with the Los Angeles Clippers stands at 7 years and running. Rivers won an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008, while also making the Finals in 2010.
Dwane Casey, who won the NBA’s Coach of the Year award in 2017-18 before getting fired by the Toronto Raptors after 7 seasons in charge, has been in charge of the Detroit Pistons over the past 2 seasons. Lloyd Pierce has been the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks over the past 2 seasons, and is well-respected for his role in developing their young players.
JB Bickerstaff, who was previously the head coach for the Memphis Grizzlies and an assistant at Cleveland after that, was promoted to the head coaching role with the Cavs this year. Monty Williams is currently in his first head coaching gig in the NBA, having been in charge of the Phoenix Suns for the past season.
