“I have an enormous level of empathy”- Adam Silver addresses the basketball world about head coaches being fired ahead of the NBA Finals

There has been a concerning surge in NBA coaching firings over the past few years, resulting in the dismissal of established championship-winning coaches whose teams fell short. Remarkably, three out of the last four title-winning coaches—Nick Nurse, Frank Vogel, and Mike Budenholzer—have already been let go by their respective teams. To add to the list, Monty Williams, the recipient of the 2022 Coach of the Year award, and Doc Rivers, the coach who led his team to the 2008 NBA championship, were both recently fired. This trend has sparked an increase in complaints regarding the lack of job security and the short leashes given to coaches. NBA commissioner Adam Silver was questioned about this issue during his press conference prior to Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday.

Silver first spoke about how he feels bad for all the coaches who may have been fired prematurely:

“I have an enormous level of empathy,” Silver said.

However, Silver added that he isn’t worried about the issue as, in the end, it’s up to the teams to make the best decisions for their franchises. Silver also pointed out that the top coaches are often quickly rehired by new teams:

“I wouldn’t say it’s a concern because when you look at the numbers, it’s actually not that aberrational,” Silver said.

“There is that revolving door of coaches. What’s interesting is some of those same championship coaches have already been hired on other teams. It’s a marketplace. I think again, that’s something that ultimately has to be controlled by the teams.

“I get it from a team or a fan standpoint, you’re doing everything that you can to win. But it’s rough to get fired, it’s rough on that coach’s family and requires dislocation, it’s embarrassing. But the good news is, seemingly, the great coaches, the ones that have proven track records, get rehired somewhere else. I don’t think that they go from being championship-level coaches to bad coaches one or two seasons later."

“For whatever reason, sometimes change is just necessary, a different voice, we all know how that works. But the good news is, it seems that talent continues to get recognized and the great coaches get rehired somewhere else.”

Michael Malone and Erik Spoelstra on the NBA’s high coaching turnover rate

Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone and Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra

Two of the longest-tenured coaches in the NBA are competing in this year’s NBA Finals. Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has been coaching Miami since 2008, making him the second-longest tenured coach in the league. Meanwhile, Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone is the fourth-longest tenured coach as he has been coaching Denver since 2015. Both coaches were recently asked about the NBA’s high coaching turnover rate and both gave varying perspectives on the matter.

Spoelstra spoke about how disturbing the trend of proven coaches being fired is:

“It’s disturbing to see proven experienced coaches lose their jobs,” Spoelstra said.

“There’s only so many teams that can advance. It’s just a really hard thing to do. Yeah, it’s been a tough couple of weeks, hearing the news of just some really surprising firings.”

Meanwhile, Malone spoke about how coaches being given short leashes is just the nature of the league:

“I understand this business,” Malone said.

“You look around the coaching landscape, if you want a secure profession, coaching is not the one to get into. I should have been a TV reporter.”