Indiana Pacers news: Grading Nate McMillan’s contract extension

The Indiana Pacers made swift work of recent rumors that coach Nate McMillan’s job was on the line by extending his contract. We’ll grade the agreement here.

Well, we didn’t see this one coming, but for that matter, nobody outside the Indiana Pacers organization did either. Just a few days ago, the hottest rumor in the bubble was that head coach Nate McMillan was on the hot seat.

It seemed unfair to dismiss a coach who had led his team through major injuries over a span of years, a traditional post-Asia preseason trip hangover and into the teeth of a pandemic. Few NBA coaches have endured more surprising hardship thrust upon their team than Nate McMillan, and it turns out that Pacers management and ownership realizes that themselves.

On Wednesday morning, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that not only was McMillan’s job safe, but he had recently signed a contract extension with the Pacers:

"“McMillan, who had one year left on his contract, finalized the deal in recent days, sources said.”"

It’s a remarkable turn of events considering that as rumors were beginning to circulate in the NBA’s bubble and on social media, McMillan either had or was about to sign this extension.

Whether somebody got something wrong in the game of “rumor mill telephone” or the buzz reached the Pacers’ offices and they decided to act quickly in favor of McMillan may never be known, but this is one less thing for team and coach to worry about as they prepare for the playoffs in Orlando.

Let’s take a look at what the extension means for all parties and we’ll wrap up with a grade of the extension.