Firing NBA coaches has become a bizarre and concerning ongoing trend in the league. Some of the latest firings were entirely unexpected! Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone was fired after his 10-year tenure with the team. He was the only coach to have worked with Nuggets star Nikola Jokic. Now, Mike Budenholzer has been let go. The fear of ‘who’s next’ is very real. A former NBA player who was fired in a similar fashion more than a decade ago has shared comforting words about his own situation.
Malone was fired after the Nuggets suffered four straight losses. He had even led the team to a championship in 2023. This continued with another Mike. Budenholzer was fired after only one season with the Phoenix Suns. Even with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal on the roster, the team couldn’t succeed. After the Phoenix Suns’ 36-46 season, the franchise decided to let go of the coach. The reason has been the same for most of the time, which was a change.
Similarly, former NBA coach Avery Johnson was also fired from the Dallas Mavericks back in April 2008. The former NBA player just shared a clip on his Instagram, with the caption: “Dallas Mavericks fired me, but I keep returning,” where he touched upon that incident, as well as other difficulties, and how he navigated those. “A lot of times they say, why do you come back, they (Dallas Mavericks) fired you. I say, no, you think about firing, I’m thinking about hiring. So it’s all in how you know that, right?” Johnson said.
Avery Johnson, who helped the Spurs win the 1999 NBA championship, further added, “Just think, I’ve been married almost 34 years. We’ve been together 38 years. But, you know, going through NBA and getting cut and fired and hired, married that long, and you have a 32-year-old who just got married last year, my daughter, and a 29-year-old son. 49, Life is not always easy!” He always looked at the brighter side of life.
Johnson is one of the most celebrated coaches in the league. He was named NBA Coach of the Month in his first two months after becoming the head coach of the Mavericks. Back in 2006, he became the fastest head coach to reach 100 wins, a record which was later broken by Tom Thibodeau. After the Mavericks lost in the first round of the playoffs for two years, Johnson was fired.
Following this, he moved on to become an analyst. His second chance at coaching saw him coach his son.
Avery Johnson talks about coaching his son during his Alabama tenure
The coach replaced Anthony Grant to become the new head coach for Alabama. He was named the 21st head coach for the men’s team in 2015. This was after his stint as an analyst for SportsCenter, NBA Coast to Coast, and NBA Tonight at ESPN.
During his tenure as a college basketball coach, he also had the chance to coach his son, Avery Johnson Jr. “When I got the job here at Alabama … I remember a couple of coaches reached out to me and said, ‘Don’t even think about it.’ Your son needs to transfer to Alabama. You gotta coach your son,” the former NBA player said.
Johnson Jr. began his college basketball career as a freshman at Texas A&M University. After spending a season there, he made the decision to transfer to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa to play for his father.
At the time, Johnson already had elite coaching skills in his arsenal. He has been exceptional as both a player and a coach. And despite all the hurdles thrown at him, the former coach hasn’t lost hope and continues to pass it on to others.
The post “Dallas Mavericks Fired Me”: NBA Champion Soothes Sting from Mike Budenholzer & Mike Malone Firing with Bizarre Claim appeared first on EssentiallySports.
