Which NBA coaches are going to be on the hot seat next?

In the NBA, head coaches are hired to get fired. There was a blood-letting of coaches in the offseason, but who’s going to be the next one to go?

There’s a saying among NBA head coaches: “You’re hired to get fired”. Unless you go the unusual route of Mike D’Antoni where his contract expired and he simply left the Houston Rockets, there are two outcomes. You coach the team you’re with until you retire, or you get fired.

This past offseason showed just how true that expression is. A quarter of the league’s coaches were dismissed from their jobs, including Jim Boylen by the Chicago Bulls, Nate McMillan by the Indiana Pacers (almost immediately after signing an extension), Doc Rivers by the LA Clippers, Alvin Gentry by the New Orleans Pelicans and Brett Brown by the Philadelphia 76ers.

That list doesn’t even include D’Antoni and Billy Donovan who mutually agreed to leave the OKC Thunder as he didn’t want to oversee their rebuilding project, instead opting to oversee the Chicago Bulls’ rebuilding project.

The bloodletting that took place during and after the NBA bubble following the league’s restart came as a shock after what had been a fairly quiet season to that point, from the perspective of firing coaches. It also came as a surprise because league owners were expected to pinch pennies while the coronavirus pandemic rages on, but there’s no offseason for firing coaches, even during global chaos.

There’s no doubt that another wave of coach firings is yet to come, but the question we must ask is: Who is next?

One sportsbook, BetOnline, has some suggestions.

https://twitter.com/betonline_ag/status/1340031761045217281?s=20

Their top five contains some surprises, to be sure. Scott Brooks has done the best he could with a middling roster in the absence of John Wall for the past couple of seasons, but he could be on a short leash if the Russell Westbrook trade doesn’t work out the way the Washington Wizards hope.

As for the Detroit Pistons, new general manager Troy Weaver has already cleaned house on the floor and left no doubt that he was going to make the team in his image. When new executives want a new coach, eventually they get their way. It wouldn’t be fair to hold the struggles of the Pistons against head coach Dwane Casey since he was hired to lead what they believed would be a playoff team, but with two years left on his contract after this one, it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise if sometime in the next year or so Weaver pulls the trigger.

Luke Walton could be on borrowed time the Sacramento Kings, especially if they can’t put together a push for the playoffs (or at least the play-in). James Borrego has received an infusion of talent with LaMelo Ball and Gordon Hayward, but the Charlotte Hornets are still too young to be expected to compete for anything meaningful. He may end up being the fall guy when the Hornets fail to make a playoff push.

As for Steve Clifford, he’s another coach who has been given a middling roster by the Orlando Magic. He has squeezed out two straight playoff appearances and it would be hard for him to have done much more than that, but even when it’s not the coach’s fault, it’s still the coach’s fault.

It doesn’t matter who you’re rooting for or against, odds are all of these coaches will get fired by their team eventually, simply because that’s how things work in the NBA. The only thing left to resolve is who goes first.