Indiana Pacers: Despite hot start, is Nate McMillan on the hot seat?

Indiana Pacers’ head coach Nate McMillan is potentially in jeopardy of losing his job, but reports are conflicting at this time.

The Indiana Pacers are off to a hot start in the NBA’s restart with a 3-1 record, making headlines behind T.J. Warren’s fantastic play. However, as good as Indiana looks, reports suggest that the man who finished top-five in the Coach of the Year voting last season could soon be out of a job. Appearing on an episode of The Lowe Post podcast, ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy and host Zach Lowe discussed these rumors.

Transcribed by NBC Sports:

"Van Gundy: “I had two people come up to me since I’ve been here [in the NBA restart bubble] and say, ‘Nate McMillan’s in trouble.'”Lowe: “It’s been the hottest rumor all season… What you’ve heard in Orlando’s been going around all season…“Let me be clear: It’s just a rumor. I don’t know if it’s true. When you talk to people around the Pacers, they say, ‘It’s not true’ or ‘Where you’d hear that from?”"

McMillan certainly has his flaws, most notably the offense that does not fit in with the current makeup of today’s fast-paced, 3-point dominant league. In fact, although the Pacers rank 14th in the league in 3-point percentage at 32.6 percent, they rank dead last in attempts at a mere 27.7 per game.

With an 18th ranked offense and 24th ranked pace along with their inability to shoot the 3-pointer, the Indiana Pacers could undoubtedly use a modern-day revamping instead of an offense that seems reminiscent to the 1990s more than the 2020s. However, while McMillan’s techniques might seem outdated, they should not overshadow his impressive achievements.

Since the coach got hired in May of 2016, Indiana has not missed the postseason once, despite the adversity that has come across these past two seasons. Suffering and recovering from a ruptured quad tendon in his right knee, McMillan has only had two-time All-Star Victor Oladipo for 52 games in the past two seasons combined. Still, Indiana finished within the top five of the Eastern Conference last season, and will likely repeat this season.

Now, he is playing without first-time All-Star Domantas Sabonis, who left the bubble to seek treatment for plantar fasciitis in his left foot and starter Jeremy Lamb, who suffered a brutal knee injury earlier in the season. Persevering through both of those losses, and playing without Oladipo for a majority of the season, McMillan deserves some credit for coaching this team to the 5-seed currently.

As impressive as McMillan’s ability to do will his team to the postseason despite the vast amount of injuries, teams playing under him have amounted to little success. In the four years that the team has gone to the postseason with him at the helm, the team has lost in the first-round four straight times, including two sweeps coming at the hands at the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics.

That lack of success in the postseason speaks for itself, and the outdated offense is not too far behind. Despite the adversity, the team is going through right now, Nate McMillan could be standing on his last leg, barring a deep postseason run.