That leaves the Trail Blazers and Mavericks as the only teams with coaching vacancies with a little more than a week until the 2026 NBA draft.
Both teams are in different phases of their hiring process, with Portland perceived to have a list of finalists, while Dallas has reportedly progressed to the interview stage.
Minnesota assistant coach Micah Nori is a popular candidate in this year’s coaching cycle, as he’s reportedly garnered interest from Chicago, Portland and Dallas. Nori has been mentioned among a short list of candidates for the Mavericks’ opening reported by NBA insider Marc Stein, along with Houston assistant coach Royal Ivey, Toronto assistant coach Jama Mahlalela, Boston’s Tony Dobbins and former NBA coach Terry Stotts, who spent four years as an assistant in Dallas.
Could a reunion be in play for Stotts? The 68-year-old head coach has the experience, spending nearly a decade as coach of the Trail Blazers and more recently as an assistant with the Golden State Warriors. He also has familiarity with the Dallas-Fort Worth area and the Mavericks organization, playing a role in the team’s lone title run in 2011.
However, the popular trend of assistant head coaches earning first-time head coaching opportunities has dominated coaching cycles over the last three years. Boston elevated Joe Mazzulla to head coach in 2023 and the move resulted in a championship the following year and a Coach of the Year honor this past season. Charlotte named Charles Lee its head coach in 2024. Denver promoted David Adelman to head coach last offseason, while Phoenix hired Jordan Ott away from Cleveland in the same cycle.
Denver and Chicago followed suit with the hiring of prominent assistant coaches. Perhaps Portland and Dallas will follow?
If Ujiri follows the pattern of his previous two head coaching hires, then he’ll likely name a successor to Jason Kidd sometime within the next eight days — ahead of next week’s draft.
If not, then the search could continue into the final week of June.
NBA teams were permitted to negotiate with their own upcoming free agents Sunday, the day after the 2026 NBA Finals ended. The Mavericks will have four unrestricted free agents this season: Marvin Bagley III, Khris Middleton, Dwight Powell and Brandon Williams. It’s logical to presume that those four players, along with their representation, will be interested in finding out who will be the next coach of the Mavericks before making a decision on whether they’d like to remain with the franchise.
June 30 at 4 p.m. marks the official start of free agency, as teams may begin negotiating with all other upcoming free agents.
It would be shocking to see the Mavericks’ coaching search extend that far, but perhaps Ujiri is closer to a hire than it appears.