In the past, it was mostly executives making the big decision to fire a coach. However, with a new wave of owners coming into the league over the past decade, multiple executives have had an owner override them and decide a coach’s fate.
“A lot of times in the circumstances I’ve been in, it’s been ownership driven,” an NBA executive told HoopsHype. “An owner doesn’t like the guy or think he’s doing a good job. Ownership would say, ‘This isn’t the coach for us. We need to move on.’ The owner would force the issues. When the owner doesn’t like the guy, are you really going to stick your neck out there?”
“The owner would simply say, “This is the decision I’ve come to,” another NBA executive told HoopsHype. “This is why. I appreciate your perspective and opinion on this. Ultimately, I’m the one paying the bills. Ultimately, I’m the one who’s accountable for the product we put out on the floor. This is a decision I made.”
Multiple NBA coaching agents echoed the sentiments from the executives that the ultimate decision may be trending towards the owners.
“I think the majority of the owners that are under 10 years in their ownership are more like that (hands-on) than ever before,” one current coaching agent told HoopsHype. “They’re more involved than they ever have been to a detriment. Very few teams have hands-off owners. The majority of them are very active and want to be involved in the process. It’s a toy to them. They enjoy it. It’s scary, but that’s the way it is now, and I don’t see it changing going forward.”
“In the NBA, it’s the owner’s final say,” another coaching agent told HoopsHype. “The GM, who on paper makes the decision, often doesn’t. There are numerous ways the information about the firing gets down to the coach or how it happens. Each team’s dynamic between front office and ownership is dynamic.”
In the end, the decision comes down to a difference in approaches. Coaches are process-oriented. Ownership is results-oriented. Executives, meanwhile, are somewhere in the middle.
Is there vertical alignment between the owner, general manager and coach? When there is, you’ll generally see teams talk about either championship expectations, a roster built to compete in the playoffs, or no mention of expectations or a rebuild.
