After surpassing everyone’s expectation this past season, the Indiana Pacers are extending the contract of Head Coach Nate McMillan.
The Indiana Pacers went into the 2017-18 season with relatively low expectations. Most people pegged them as a 30-ish win team and thought that the season would be the first of a rebuilding process.
That was not the case.
Thanks to hard work from everyone: the players, the coaches, and the front office, the organization saw the team go out and win 48 games and nearly upset LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs.
Pacers head coach Nate McMillan has received a magnitude of praise for his work at the helm of the team last season, and rightfully so. He found a way to make an entirely new rotation gel together straight from the get-go and often had the perfect lineup on the court given the situation. His on-court management of the team, as well as his role in player development, made the Pacers a tough beat in every game last year.
Thanks to his hard work, McMillan earned himself a contract extension. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN was the first to break the news:
Indiana Pacers coach Nate McMillan is finalizing a contract extension, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 1, 2018
The Pacers have been working toward this extension for much of the offseason. According to J Michael of the IndyStar, the organization wanted to put the extension “to bed before training camp”. It looks like they got that done:
The #Pacers are close to finalizing a multi-year deal with Nate McMillan, league sources tell @indystar .... Reported about a month ago they'd put this to bed before training camp. It's happening now.
— J. Michael (@ThisIsJMichael) August 1, 2018
The monetary value of the extension is unknown, but the extension runs through the 2020-21 season, per a report from Wojnarowski. Barring an unforeseeable move, we have three more years of McMillan.
McMillan originally received a three-year deal in the summer of 2016 after the team cut ties with former head coach Frank Vogel. This coming season would have been McMillan’s last year of that deal, and it is always nice to avoid the situation of having your coach not know what is next for him. The Pacers evaded that awkwardness with this extension and lock Nate up for a few more seasons.
The extension will not kick in until the 2019-20 season. McMillan did a wonderful job last season of keeping the locker room harmonious, so keeping him around should promote a great work environment for everyone. Congrats to coach McMillan, who should continue to keep the ship on track for a few more seasons.