NBA: 30 players who should be coaches someday

USA basket head coach Mike Krzyzewski (R) chats with his player Rajon Rondo (L) during a training session at La Caja Magica pavillion in Madrid, on August 19, 2010. The US team arrived in Madrid to hold a four-day training camp that started on August 17, ahead of exhibition games against Lithuania, Spain and Greece before they open the world tournament in Turkey against Croatia on August 28. AFP PHOTO / JAVIER SORIANO (Photo credit should read JAVIER SORIANO/AFP via Getty Images) /

5 of 31

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images /

NBA: 30 players who should be coaches someday 27. J.J. Barea

It’s fun to wonder at the future of current NBA players, and what they will do with their lives once they retire. In this piece, we are trying to “read the tea leaves” as to which NBA players might be coaches one day: evaluating their desire and their competence.

With J.J. Barea, we don’t have to guess either, as both have been made clear to us. First, he has been outspoken about wanting to coach one day. When the Dallas Mavericks, Barea’s long-term team, released him prior to the 2020-21 NBA season, he made the following statement.

"“In the future, I would love to come back and help this team again,” Barea said. “My goal is to coach at the highest level and I know I’ll be great, especially here in Dallas.”"

Barea has the desire to be an NBA coach; does he have the ability to be one? Here is Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle on his long-time point guard:

"“He has all the tools to be a successful coach, there’s no doubt about that… He has great leadership abilities, he has leadership presence, he communicates well with players and with people. Those are all tools that are vital for success in coaching.”"

To keep the quotes coming, Barea even has opportunity. The Mavericks’ general manager Don Nelson said that when Barea was ready to coach, Dallas would be the “first ones at the table” to hire him. The Puerto Rican guard hung around the league for 14 years through a combination of skill and basketball knowledge, and he looks destined to apply those in the coaching field in the not-too-distant future.