The Indiana Pacers fired manager Nate McMillan after his team was wiped out in the first round of the playoffs by the Miami Heat.
The move comes after the Pacers reworked the final year of McMillan’s contract for 2020-21 and added a team option for 2021-22 in the form of a soft extension earlier this month.
Houston Rockets manager Mike D’Antoni, who is in the final year of his contract, will be an Indiana target should he be available, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Indiana also plans to seek from a group of candidates it would consider long-term “program builders”, sources told Wojnarowski.
In four seasons as manager of the Pacers, McMillan had a record of 183-136, including 3-16 in the postseason. Indiana was blown away in the first round in each of the last two seasons.
The Pacers have not reached the second round since appearing in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2013 and 2014, and following Monday’s defeat to Miami, Indiana lost a franchise record for nine consecutive playoff games.
Injuries played a key role in bankruptcies. After being overwhelmed by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017, the Pacers played last season without two-time All-Star Victor Oladipo, who suffered a serious knee injury, and without the All-Star striker. Domantas Sabonis due to a foot injury against Calore.
“On behalf of the Simon family and the Pacers organization, I would like to thank Nate for his years with the team,” Pacers basketball operations president Kevin Pritchard said in a statement. “This was a very difficult decision for us to make; but we believe it is in the best interest of the organization to go in a different direction. Nate and I have had good times and bad times; and it has been an honor to work with him for those 11 years (in Indiana and Portland). “
McMillan has a career record of 661-588 in 16 seasons as head coach for Seattle, Portland and Indiana.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
.
