Each year, there is significant turnover in the ranks of NBA head coaches. As one would expect, some of the changes take place at the conclusion of the season, but others tend to happen during the season as coaches are fired in an effort for the organization to go in a different direction.
In 2024-25, three coaches were relieved of their duties during the season, leading to changes in Denver, Sacramento, and Memphis. Then, three more situations (New York, Phoenix, San Antonio) saw permanent head coaching changes once the campaign was complete. Not every season will bring six changes, but inevitably, at least one of the 30 NBA head coaching jobs will change hands between now and the summer of 2026.
With that as the backdrop, the focus in this space is on the five biggest names that could be available for organizations if they choose to make changes by firing coaches. Notably, this list does not include coaches that are currently assistants in the league, which removes clearly qualified candidates like Frank Vogel and Nate McMillan. In fact, all five of the names listed here would be at least interesting to pop up, even if a coaching change happened early in the 2025-26 campaign.
Tom Thibodeau
Thibodeau is collecting some (very) large checks from the Knicks after they moved on from him earlier this summer. That move surprisingly came after Thibs led New York to the Eastern Conference Finals and, in five seasons with the Knicks, he won 56.5 percent of his games. That is an impressive number, and Thibodeau has been renowned for his defensive aptitude for a long time. Prior to his time in New York, Thibodeau also coached the Bulls and Wolves for eight seasons combined, and his .579 career winning percentage as an NBA head coach speaks for itself.
Taylor Jenkins
Jenkins' dismissal in Memphis was not as surprising as Thibodeau's exit from New York, but he still left the Grizzlies with an impressive head coaching profile. Jenkins, who is only 40 years old, led the Grizzlies for five seasons and won nearly 54 percent of his games. That included a disaster season in 2023-24 that wasn't really his fault, and Memphis won 50 games on two occasions under Jenkins. He is an impressive coaching mind with a long career ahead of him, and no one should be surprised if Jenkins is a head coach again very soon.
Michael Malone
Less than 30 months ago, Michael Malone was hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy as the head coach of the world champion Denver Nuggets. Then, the Nuggets won 57 games during the ensuing season, and they still won 60 percent of their games in 2024-25. However, that was not enough for Malone to keep his job, as he was fired after 79 (!) games. Currently, he's set to do some TV work for ESPN, but Malone is clearly an excellent head coach. He won 59 percent of his games in Denver, leading that team for a decade, and he was accomplished in the league well before that stint.
Mike Budenholzer
Budenholzer's stint in Phoenix lasted only one season, and he was not able to replicate his early-tenure success from Milwaukee and Atlanta in a new stop. Still, that does not erase the excellent decade of work from Budenholzer before he landed in Phoenix, as he won about 60 percent of his games with the Hawks and Bucks. That run in Milwaukee included the 2021 NBA championship, and Budenholzer also authored the best regular season (60-22) in Atlanta Hawks history in 2014-15.
Steve Nash
Nash is a wild card inclusion on the list, as he has not been an NBA coach since he was fired seven games into the 2022-23 season with the Brooklyn Nets. However, Nash went 94-67 with the Nets, and he is only 51 years old. It is unclear whether Nash, who has many other interests and an active TV career as an analyst, would want to get back into the coaching game. With that said, he would be a potentially appealing candidate with a big name and some mild success in the role with the Nets.