The NBA Coaching Carousel: Three Seats Filled, Three Still Spinning
The 2026 offseason has already torn up half the league’s sidelines — and it’s not done. Six teams opened the summer hunting a head coach. Three have their man. Three are still working the phones, and most won’t move until the Finals end and the June 23 draft tells them exactly what roster their new coach is inheriting. Here’s where it stands.
The Hires
Milwaukee Bucks — Taylor Jenkins. Milwaukee didn’t wait around, landing Jenkins in late April to replace the retiring, newly-minted Hall of Famer Doc Rivers. It’s a homecoming — the former Grizzlies coach cut his teeth as a Bucks assistant under Mike Budenholzer. The job is no gift: a 32-50 team that cratered to the lottery for the first time in a decade once Giannis Antetokounmpo was shut down.
New Orleans Pelicans — Jamahl Mosley. Lead exec Joe Dumars poached Mosley from Orlando, betting the player-development reputation he built with the Magic — who pushed the top-seeded Pistons to the brink in round one — can finally bring order to one of the league’s most chaotic franchises.
Orlando Magic — Sean Sweeney. The newest domino: with Mosley gone, Orlando moved fast for the most coveted assistant on the market. It’s a telling choice — a win-now Eastern roster landing a first-time head coach with a defensive pedigree rather than waiting on a retread. And Sweeney’s exit reshapes everyone else’s search, because he was the name half the league wanted.
Still Searching
Dallas Mavericks. The wildest vacancy of the cycle. New president Masai Ujiri mutually parted with Jason Kidd — the Hall of Famer who took Dallas to the 2024 Finals — despite nearly $40 million still owed, capping a turbulent run that began with the Luka Dončić trade in early 2025 and GM Nico Harrison’s firing last November. Now Ujiri builds around Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg and the No. 9 pick. With Sweeney gone to Orlando, names like ex-Blazers interim Tiago Splitter — tied to new Mavs GM Mike Schmitz — and Duke’s Jon Scheyer, who coached Flagg in college, are in the mix.
Chicago Bulls. Chicago cut Billy Donovan in late April and is doing this the patient way — installing a new head of basketball operations before picking a coach. The assignment is clear: with the No. 4 and No. 15 picks and young pieces like Matas Buzelis, this is a multi-year rebuild, not a plug-and-play fix.
Portland Trail Blazers. The murkiest job in the league. Chauncey Billups was never formally fired, but his tenure is effectively over after an October arrest on money-laundering and wire-fraud conspiracy charges. Tiago Splitter stepped in and delivered Portland’s first playoff berth in five years — yet is reportedly unlikely to keep the chair. GM Joe Cronin runs the search with new owner Tom Dundon holding the final say; Nets assistant Steve Hetzel and Clippers assistant Jeff Van Gundy are names to watch.
What to Watch
Sweeney coming off the board is the real story — he was the thread tying the Dallas and Chicago searches together, and now both look elsewhere. Expect the three remaining jobs to stay frozen until after the Finals and the June 23 draft, when front offices finally know what rosters they’re handing over. With a deep, title-tested assistant pool still available, the carousel has spins left.
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