{"id":2009965,"date":"2026-06-25T09:45:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T06:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2009965"},"modified":"2026-06-25T09:45:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T06:45:19","slug":"nba-coaches-express-serious-concern-over-micah-noris-unusual-new-blazers-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2009965","title":{"rendered":"NBA coaches express \u2018serious concern\u2019 over Micah Nori\u2019s unusual new Blazers contract"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the wake of Micah Nori\u2019s hiring by the Portland Trail Blazers this week, his coaching contemporaries are experiencing two very different, equally intense emotions.<\/p>\n

For starters, as three coaches shared with The Athletic<\/em> on Wednesday, they\u2019re feeling joy for the man himself, as the 52-year-old Nori is a widely respected and beloved coach who has paid his dues as an NBA assistant with five teams since 2009, and has long deserved a shot at the top job. But then, upon pondering a deal structure that runs counter to industry standards, those same coaches felt anger toward the Trail Blazers organization and its new owner, Tom Dundon, for green-lighting a decision that many in the industry see as dangerously disrespectful.<\/p>\n

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As The Athletic<\/em> first reported on Tuesday<\/a>, Nori\u2019s three-year deal includes just one guaranteed season of employment followed by back-to-back team options and, in essence, makes him a \u201clame duck\u201d coach upon arrival. And as the three coaches who spoke with The Athletic<\/em> a day later made clear, that sort of unconventional structure undermines a coach like Nori\u2019s chances at succeeding and should have no place in today\u2019s NBA.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe shouldn\u2019t have to be in that position to make a decision like that because of all the work that coaches before us have put in,\u201d J.B. Bickerstaff, the Detroit Pistons head coach who is the president of the National Basketball Coaches Association<\/a>, told The Athletic<\/em> on Wednesday. \u201c(You\u2019re) trying to set a precedent that devalues the job of what coaches have done to help grow the NBA and these teams into billion-dollar businesses. (That\u2019s) a serious concern for us as coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

The finances are merely one part of this discussion, as league sources say Nori\u2019s pay is at the bottom end of the league\u2019s range. Sacramento Kings head coach Doug Christie is known to be the lowest-paid coach at approximately $2 million<\/a>, while Golden State\u2019s Steve Kerr is the highest paid at $17.5 million. What\u2019s more, league sources say the deal includes incentives tied to team performance.<\/p>\n

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Anyone who has paid attention to Dundon\u2019s early tenure in Portland could have seen that part coming, as the stories of his thriftiness were in the spotlight<\/a> within months of his taking over the team in April. Still, Dundon\u2019s unorthodox business style was seemingly validated when the NHL team he owns, the Carolina Hurricanes, won the Stanley Cup earlier this month for the second time in franchise history.<\/p>\n

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\n NBA coaches deride Micah Nori\u2019s \u201clame duck\u201d deal that they strongly believe has no place in the league. (Steph Chambers \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The part of Nori\u2019s contract that upsets many coaches is that it puts a coach in a vulnerable position on his first day on the job. It is, in essence, the \u201clame duck\u201d deal that coaches strongly believe has no place in the league.<\/p>\n

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\u201cInsert any (coach\u2019s) name, and I think the frustration of the terms of the deal for our profession is what\u2019s infuriating a lot of coaches,\u201d said Lloyd Pierce, the former Atlanta Hawks head coach who has been a lead assistant with the Indiana Pacers since 2021 (and in the NBA since 2007).\u00a0\u201cWe can\u2019t afford to have the integrity of our coaching profession be attacked in a way that says we have to prove it, that we have to earn it, that (teams) have to incentivize our contracts when we get these opportunities. In a lot of ways, we have already proven we\u2019ve earned it. And the reason we should feel rewarded for upward mobility opportunities is because of the work we have previously done.\u201d<\/p>\n

As former Lakers head coach and current Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham sees it, the responsibility and scrutiny that come with a head-coaching role demand that deals like these not exist.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a head coach, sometimes you\u2019re the one that has to face the music,\u201d Ham said. \u201cYou are at the forefront. You\u2019re the face of that franchise. And so your (deal) should represent that as well. It\u2019s a volatile business, so a lot of times that position is short-lived, and you just know it\u2019s a matter of time before you\u2019re fired, and we embrace that. We know what comes with the territory. But, you know, it\u2019s just unfortunate to see that, and we\u2019re gonna fight tooth and nail to make sure that we don\u2019t go backwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t be left out because, again, the weight of the world is on your shoulders sometimes when you are in that seat. And so the contract structure, the finances, they should represent the seriousness of that position.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"Wolves<\/p>\n
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\n Wolves coach says Micah Nori\u2019s Blazers opportunity \u2018overshadowed\u2019 by unconventional contract\n <\/div>\n
\n Nori committed to sign a one-year contract with Portland, with team options each of the next two seasons, according to league sources.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Pierce pointed to the recently-crowned New York Knicks as an example of why contractual support is so crucial, as first-year coach Mike Brown signed a five-year, $40 million deal last summer and endured rough patches in the regular season before winning it all.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe saw (the Knicks) come out of the (NBA Cup) tournament (in December) and have a rough stretch after winning the cup, and all of the criticism about the adjustments or decisions he made,\u201d Pierce said. \u201cBut ultimately, he had ultimate support from (management) and everyone involved in New York. So they went through their adversity, and they came out and had a hell of a run. No coach wants to feel like they can\u2019t finish the job, and it\u2019s hard to finish the job if you\u2019re walking into it knowing that you\u2019re not truly being supported.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coaches say a deal like Nori\u2019s goes against the spirit of the partnership between coaches and the league at large. Coaches are routinely asked to take part in efforts to grow the game at large that go well beyond the responsibilities of their own team. Pierce, in fact, enjoyed nearly a week this summer with Nori and his wife at a Basketball Without Borders event in Rwanda.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe growth of the sport has created opportunities financially, economically, security \u2014 in terms of years \u2014 for a lot of people,\u201d Pierce said. \u201cCoaches (are) one of those groups. And so we\u2019ve done a lot of work, and we\u2019re thankful for the coaches who have led that fight, who have proven the value of the coaching industry in the NBA. So the structure of the deal is less about who took the deal and more about those that paved the way for our (current generation of coaches).\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the locker-room dynamic.<\/p>\n

A significant number of players already make more than their coaches, with superstars paid upwards of $60 million annually, and the average salary, according to Basketball-Reference.com, was $10.4 million for last season. That alone can have an impact on the power structure. As any coach in the final year of his contract knows all too well, the impact of your voice tends to wane as the end of the contract nears.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupport matters,\u201d Bickerstaff said. \u201cThe type of leadership that you work under as a coach matters. If you have a disagreement with a player, or you want them to play a specific role, and you\u2019re battling the idea that the people above you don\u2019t necessarily have your back, that makes your job extremely difficult. One of our jobs as coaches is the ability to hold people and players and staff, as leadership, accountable. And if you don\u2019t have that support from above, it makes it difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

As all three coaches reiterated, this isn\u2019t about Nori. It\u2019s about the precedent that was just set in Portland.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe\u2019s not even worried about the money, which is a beautiful thing,\u201d Ham said of Nori. \u201cThat just shows you how pure his approach is. He just wants to go in there and get to prove to the world that he\u2019s ready to take on that challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m extremely, extremely proud and happy for (him). He\u2019s been putting in a lot of work for a lot of years, and he deserves his opportunity. \u2026 Taking the job is, for me, a no-brainer, but having said that, the biggest thing we can\u2019t do is go backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the wake of Micah Nori\u2019s hiring by the Portland Trail Blazers this week, his coaching contemporaries are experiencing two very different, equally intense emotions. For starters, as three coaches shared with The Athletic on Wednesday, they\u2019re feeling joy for the man himself, as the 52-year-old Nori is a widely respected and beloved coach who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-2009965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2009965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2009965\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2009965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2009965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2009965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}