SEPTEMBER 4: More than a month after reaching an agreement on a new deal for McMillan, the Pacers have officially announced in a press release that the head coach has signed his extension.
AUGUST 1: The Pacers and head coach Nate McMillan are in agreement on a deal that will extend his contract through the 2020/21 season, league sources ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
McMillan, who was named Frank Vogel‘s replacement by the Pacers back in the 2016 offseason, signed a three-year contract at that time, so he would have been entering the final year of his deal this fall if he hadn’t worked out a new agreement with the team.
Wojnarowski reported in June that the Pacers would likely discuss an extension for McMillan this offseason, with president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard confirming last month that those talks were underway.
McMillan made the Pacers’ decision to extend him an easy one. After leading the team to a 42-40 record during his first year as head coach, McMillan and the Pacers were expected to take a step back last season with star forward Paul George no longer on the roster. However, Indiana was one of the NBA’s surprise teams of 2017/18, racking up 48 wins and earning the No. 5 seed in the East. The Pacers pushed LeBron James and the Cavaliers to seven games in the first round before losing Game 7.
In total, McMillan has a 90-74 (.549) record in two seasons with the Pacers. The veteran coach, who was an assistant on Vogel’s staff before earning a promotion in 2016, had previous stints as the head coach of the SuperSonics and Trail Blazers. His overall record as a head coach is 568-526 (.519), placing him fifth among active head coaches in career wins, and 26th all-time.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Well deserved, he has created an ego-free culture in Indiana. I remember Nate coached the Sonics with that core of Ray Allen,Rasheed Lewis,Jerome James, and Nick Collison. Ray was amazing during his tenure in Seattle, best shooter I had ever seen and yes better than Curry.
I liked McMillan as a player too.
Tall PGs are the best, they want to look over the defense so keep their head up. McMillan was a leadership player.
Came from Portland with Kevin Pritchard. It’s good they work together.
Liked him more as a player, those Supersonics were some team, with him & Ellis & McDaniel & Chambers… But then again Seattle always had good teams… have a soft spot for them, also love the city.
I know they are saying Seattle will have a team within a few years. The Pacers owner is up in the years and his son will succeed him. He has said he will keep them in Indianapolis (they are mall owners including Las Vegas), but the Pacers haven’t sold out games in years. This is why they keep salaries low. The NBA hasn’t said whether they will give Seattle an expansion team or an existing franchise. Because the fan base can’t support the Pacers, I wonder if they are a team the NBA would look at. For Boston, Gordon Hayward was a late bloomer. He wasn’t even recruited by Indiana or Purdue University. Brad Stevens was the leading all time scorer in Zionsville until this year. He comes from a very wealthy community.
BTW I was meaning that like him more as a player, but he is a good HC too, good for him.
Larry Bird retiring turned out to be the best thing that could happen to the Pacers. Pritchard has been excellent, McMillan too, Oladipo too.
I wonder if Paul George would have stayed in Indiana if he wasn’t the number one option like in OKC?
I like them with Bogie and not PG. ego-less like Dionis said and he shoots over 40% from 3. Bogs is the man. This other Bogs in SAC is cramping his style.