Steve Clifford will coach the Charlotte Hornets' final seven games of the regular season, but he won't be in place for the 2024-25 season. Charlotte's new executive vice president Jeff Peterson and owners Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall were open to Clifford sticking around for another year, but he declined. Charlotte is currently sitting 18-57 through the team's first 75 games and has struggled to stay healthy enough to put their best foot forward. Clifford will transition into an advisory role with the team moving forward.
So, where do the Hornets go from here?
The top candidates to be the Hornets' next head coach
With Clifford stepping out, a new head coach will come in and they can start that search immediately. According to Adrian Wojnarowski, top assistants around the league could be candidates towards the top of the list as they kick off their search.
The list includes Sacramento Kings' Jordi Fernandez, Boston Celtics' Charles Lee, Miami Heat's Chris Quinn, Phoenix Suns' Kevin Young, and others. Each guy is relatively young, with all of them 42 or younger, making them promising candidates for a job that has a lot of young players with more to come.
Lee has had assistant coaching stints with the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks and is now in his first year with the Boston Celtics. He was even the associate head coach for the Bucks in the 2022-23 season.
Chris Quinn is a former NBA player after going undrafted in 2006. He spent three years in Miami, and one season each in San Antonio and Cleveland. Quinn started out as a player development coach with the Heat in 2014-15 but has been an assistant since 2016-17.
Jordi Fernandez has been an assistant coach since 2016-17 and has had stints with the Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings. Kevin Young started his coaching career in Philadelphia from 2016 to 2020 and has been with the Phoenix Suns since then. As of now, these seem to be some
Steve Clifford thinks he made the right call
“This is the appropriate time for me to step down,” Clifford said, via a statement. “I believe this is best for me and the organization. I’m excited about the future of the Hornets – our young core of players, Jeff’s leadership of our basketball operations and Rick and Gabe’s vision for the organization. I want to thank all the Hornets players and staff for their work the past two seasons and our Hornets fans for their continued support of our team.”
Clifford will step into an advisory role and help out on that front, which might be a better fit for him at this point in time. Since he took the job in June 2022, Charlotte has struggled with injuries maybe more so than any other team. Including key ones to LaMelo Ball, who is the franchise player. Going through another grind of an 82-game season might be a little much for Clifford at this point in his career. He's amassed more than 25 years as a head coach, assistant, and scout.
Picking from a younger crop is an encouraging sign
The Hornets' core group of players in LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Mark Williams are all no older than 22 years old. Bringing in a basketball mind that might be a little to relate to is a good start to building up the roster and the organization as a whole. Plus, Charlotte is likely to land a top-five pick this summer for the 2024 NBA Draft. They're only going to add another beneficial piece to what they already have in place. Whoever steps into this role will have a plethora of young talent. Pairing it with a young coach seems like a logical move.
Moving on from Steve Clifford gives new ownership flexibility to go hand-pick their guy. Even if it's not one of those younger, fresh assistant coaches, they get to make the call. Giving Charlotte basketball a fresh new start in terms of who's calling the shots from upstairs and coaching on the floor. Maybe Kenny Atkinson's name resurfaces or Mike D'Antoni, either way, it'll be a guy that they picked. Whoever steps into the role has a pretty solid foundation of players to kick off the party.
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