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NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed the issue of coaching diversity in his press conference on Wednesday night ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat.
Silver said that while NBA teams should be free to hire the most qualified person, he acknowledged that “we need to do better.”
More Silver: asked about there being just four Black head coaches in the NBA after Doc Rivers’ firing, Silver says teams should be able to hire who they want. "Having said that, we need to do better." League looked at a Rooney Rule equivalent but decided not to implement it.
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) October 1, 2020
The league doesn't have their own version of the NFL's deeply flawed “Rooney Rule” — which requires each franchise to interview at least one minority candidate for coaching vacancies — though Adam Silver said that option has been explored.
The league currently employs four black head coaches — J.B. Bickerstaff (Cleveland Cavaliers), Lloyd Pierce (Atlanta Hawks), Dwayne Casey (Detroit Pistons), and Monty Williams (Phoenix Suns).
In recent weeks, three black head coaches have lost their jobs: Doc Rivers (Los Angeles Clippers), Nate McMillan (Indiana Pacers), and Alvin Gentry (New Orleans Pelicans).
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Additionally, Mike D'Antoni parted ways with the Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder did the same with Billy Donovan, the Philadelphia 76ers fired Brett Brown, and Brooklyn fired Kenny Atkinson before the pandemic.
The three coaches who have recently gained jobs have been white: Billy Donovan (Chicago Bulls), Steve Nash (Brooklyn Nets), and Tom Thibodeau (New York Knicks). Jacque Vaughn, who coached the Nets in the restart, will be Nash's lead assistant in Brooklyn next season.
After Brooklyn's surprising hiring of Nash — who has experience as a Hall of Fame point guard, Canadian national team GM, and as a player development consultant with the Golden State Warriors but none on the sidelines — Silver acknowledged that white privilege (and his playing resume) helped him “skip the line.”
“I have benefited from white privilege,” Nash told Alex Schiffer of The Athletic. “Our society has a lot of ground to make up.”
A slew of Black coaches have emerged as candidates for the six head coaching vacancies (in addition to Rivers, who is meeting with the 76ers), including Clippers assistants Tyronn Lue and Sam Cassell, 76ers assistant Ime Udoka, Milwaukee Bucks assistants Darvin Ham and Charles Lee, Toronto Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin, Denver Nuggets assistant Wes Unseld Jr., Los Angeles Lakers assistant Jason Kidd, and former Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson, among others.
