{"id":60321,"date":"2025-08-05T14:19:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T14:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/60321\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T14:19:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T14:19:07","slug":"syracuse-basketballs-former-heir-mike-hopkins-takes-a-new-job-in-the-nba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/60321\/","title":{"rendered":"Syracuse basketball’s former heir Mike Hopkins takes a new job in the NBA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Hopkins is heading to the pros.<\/p>\n

Syracuse’s former guard, who was once meant as the coach-in-waiting behind Jim Boeheim but instead wound up leading the University of Washington as their head coach, has taken a job in the NBA.<\/p>\n

Hopkins is joining the New Orleans Pelicans.<\/p>\n

They’ve hired him as an assistant coach and head of player development, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hopkins was most recently on the staff of the Phoenix Suns for a season after spending 2017-2024 with the Huskies.<\/p>\n

He had been at SU from 1995-2017 on the bench after previously playing for the Orange under Boeheim.<\/p>\n

Hopkins is a logical choice as a player development coach, for sure. Many of Syracuse’s greatest development success stories through the years were largely credited to Hopkins.<\/p>\n

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The Pelicans certainly have some growing to do. They’re coming off a season in which they went 21-61.<\/p>\n

They aren’t without talent, though.<\/p>\n

Zion Williamson, the former Duke star, leads the charge. His biggest issue is staying healthy.<\/p>\n

Trey Murphy III is a rising star out of Virginia.<\/p>\n

The likes of Jordan Poole, Yves Missi and Jose Alvarado are a strong core.<\/p>\n

The Pelicans just drafted multiple talented rookies. Jeremiah Fears is an explosive guard out of Oklahoma, and Derik Queen is a talented big from Maryland, although he’s hurt.<\/p>\n

The Pelicans’ head coach is former NBA guard Willie Green.<\/p>\n

It’s a great opportunity for Hopkins, a spot he’ll have a chance to really succeed in.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0LeBron James could turn into NBA’s biggest competition with $200 million from Saudi Arabia<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Hopkins is heading to the pros. Syracuse’s former guard, who was once meant as the coach-in-waiting behind…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,398,400,401,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-60321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}