The 2023-24 NBA season is here, and the cast of championship contenders seems to be well-defined. While there may only be a handful of teams with a realistic chance to win a title, that's not what owners around the league are thinking heading into the year. That alone should result in these four NBA coaches, led by Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd, being on the hot seat heading into the 2023-24 season.
Jason Kidd, Dallas Mavericks
Kidd is a franchise legend, helping Mark Cuban and the Mavericks win their first and only title as a player in 2011. That goodwill may only carry him so far, however, especially if Cuban feels he's jeopardizing Dallas's chances to keep Luka Doncic around for the rest of his career. If the Mavericks start out slow, and if Doncic seems at all frustrated with the offense or general direction of the team, a change in the locker room will have to come…and it won't be Luka getting sent out.
Of course, there's the grim reaper for head coaches in Kyrie Irving in Dallas now as well, which only further turns up the heat on Kidd to make this work. If Dallas defends as poorly as they did last season (24th in defensive efficiency), Cuban may be left with no choice but to look elsewhere. You could sleepwalk to a top-10 offense with Luka and Kyrie, but building a defense around them is the challenge, and Jason Kidd has to prove he can make that happen sooner rather than later.
There's going to be no shortage of drama in Dallas this season, especially if the wheels get wobbly out of the gates. Dallas should have championship aspirations with one of the best players in the world in his prime — any failure to not be at that level should lead Cuban to pull the trigger and do what he can to placate Doncic and give him the best chance to win.
Chris Finch, Minnesota Timberwolves
The Timberwolves didn't go “all-in” with the Rudy Gobert trade just to hang around the 8-seed all year. While Karl-Anthony Towns and Gobert deserve a lot more than the 29 regular season games they got last year to figure out how this all works, the Timberwolves can't keep playing below their talent level, especially with Anthony Edwards looking primed to take a leap after a dominant summer with Team USA at the FIBA World Cup.
The Timberwolves were just 20th in net rating last year. Finch has 104-101 record as head coach, so that seat should be getting hot. Minnesota can't accept mediocrity, and if that's still the case with a bigger sample size this season, replacing Finch would be a heck of a lot easier than moving the massive contracts of Gobert or parting with a franchise cornerstone in KAT.
Finch is the NBA head coach who needs his team to take the leap this season, as expectations are rightfully high despite playing in a tough Western Conference. Hovering anywhere around .500 simply won't cut it this season.
Billy Donovan, Chicago Bulls
Donovan has just one playoff win in his three seasons with the Bulls, and after Chicago finished below .500 last year, you can understand why he's a coach on the hot seat heading into the 2023-24 season. The Bulls are a veteran-led squad with a capped ceiling, but it's hard to see how this roster elevates into a top-four team in the Eastern Conference. That might not be the expectation of ownership, but when you're shelling out huge salaries to Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic, that trio should at least be able to make you a competitive playoff team, and that hasn't happened in Chicago yet under Donovan.
While Donovan shouldn't be held solely responsible for the lack of direction for the franchise and some of the injuries that have spoiled the team's chances in the past, the Bulls might feel the need to do something to try and move the team off the treadmill of mediocrity. So long as the Bulls keep this roster intact, Donovan has to start winning more consistently in order to avoid the hot seat and speculation that he could be the first NBA head coach to get fired this year.
Steve Clifford, Charlotte Hornets
Steve Clifford is a good coach, but he's not a babysitter. Charlotte's roster is brimming with immaturity and serious character concerns, and the 62-year-old basketball lifer may not have the stomach to deal with a young core that might not buy-in defensively. Building something out of nothing on the defensive end has always been Clifford's calling card, but relying so heavily on rookies and players with inconsistent motors seems like a recipe for failure.
Clifford won just 27 games in his first year in Charlotte, and while there aren't any real expectations for the Hornets to compete like there are for Jason Kidd in Dallas, a complete culture reset may be necessary at some point this season. Clifford's seat should be hot simply because anyone coaching this collection of players would feel the temperature rise. Clifford's competency as a coach shouldn't be questioned, but when things go south in the NBA, we know the head coach gets the boot first.
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