Former Indiana Pacers head coach is about to be a head coach again

Nate McMillan is reportedly the favorite to take the interim head coaching spot for the Atlanta Hawks. McMillan, formerly of the Indiana Pacers is in his first season as an assistant with Atlanta, who have fire Lloyd Pierce.

Nate McMillan is potentially set to be a head coach again after being fired by the Indiana Pacers.

Pierce did not get the Hawks off to the start that they imagined prior to the season as many billed them as a playoff threat above the Pacers in the Eastern Conference. Now, they are searching for a new head coach midway through the season.

McMillan was fired by the Pacers following last season, a season that witnessed yet another first-round exit in the playoffs. He was fired just weeks after signing an extension with Indiana, which raised some eyebrows around the league.

While I agree that it was time for the Pacers to move on from Nate, the timing was definitely a bit confusing, as was the extension. Hopefully, he can get back on track and prove that he is still the right man for some organization in the league, even if his season with Atlanta does not end positively.

Atlanta currently sits at 14-20 and is 11th in the Eastern Conference despite preseason hype surrounding Trae Young and John Collins. While they are struggling to find a groove, they are still just 2.5 games back of a playoff spot.

There is still plenty of time to turn things around for the Hawks, who will likely be battling with the Pacers down the final stretch of the season.

Indiana has two more matchups with Atlanta in the second half of the season and could have some interesting circumstances surrounding those games. With Nate McMillan potentially in charge, the Pacers really do not want to lose out on a playoff spot to the man they let go.

McMillan was not out of a job for long and that is why he was a perfect candidate for an assistant job. His experience as a head coach gives teams a viable option in-house if they do indeed fire their coach mid-season. Fortunately for the Hawks, that situation played out perfectly in a sense.