Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Five NBA coaches face uncertain futures as they finish the 2025-26 regular season with underwhelming records.
- Doc Rivers, Nick Nurse, Jamahl Mosley and more have strong resumes but haven't been able to deliver success for their teams this season.
- Playoff performance and roster health will be critical factors in determining which coaches survive the offseason.
The end of the NBA's 2025-26 regular season is fast approaching, which means some coaches' seats are getting red hot.
Teams that underachieved relative to preseason expectations and/or showed concerning trends could be forced to consider a change this offseason. Barring a major roster shakeup, the head coach is often the first scapegoat.
Only two teams changed coaches last offseason — and two others have made in-season changes this year — but that could lead to a major summer of change. With anti-tanking reforms seemingly on the horizon, teams that were planning on a multiyear rebuild may need to reevaluate whether they're on the right track.
The playoffs could decide the fate of at least a few coaches this season, while others have to be concerned after missing the postseason entirely. These five in particular appear ripe for a shakeup.
Jamahl Mosley, Orlando Magic
The Magic entered the season with the sixth-highest win-loss over/under at 51.5. They were tied for eighth with the Los Angeles Clippers at +1800 to win the championship.
The Magic have zero chance of reaching 50 wins and currently have far worse odds to win the Eastern Conference, much less the NBA title. That has Jamahl Mosley firmly on the hot seat, longtime NBA insider Jake Fischer said Tuesday on a Bleacher Report livestream.
After two straight first-round knockouts, the Magic pushed their chips in this past offseason by trading four first-round picks to the Memphis Grizzlies for Desmond Bane. He was supposed to complete their young core with Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs, but Wagner and Suggs weren't able to stay healthy this year.
Unfortunately for Mosley, he's coaching in a year when Joe Mazzulla helped guide the Boston Celtics to 50-plus wins despite being without Jayson Tatum for a grand majority of the season. The Magic are relatively average on both ends of the floor and are dealing with concerns about potential stagnation for Banchero, health for Wagner and Suggs, and, most importantly of all: money.
Wagner, Suggs, Bane and Banchero alone will earn more than $160 million next year. The salary cap is projected to be $165 million. The Magic aren't likely to have many more opportunities for significant external improvement. That puts a premium on coaching.
If Mosley can't guide the Magic out of the first round for the third straight season, his seat will be scorching hot.
Doc Rivers, Milwaukee Bucks
Has any coach been named to the Basketball Hall of Fame and then fired within the same month? Or is Doc Rivers about to make NBA history?
ESPN's Shams Charania reported Tuesday that Rivers is being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this year alongside Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne and Amar'e Stoudemire. He did not, however, share an update on Rivers' future with the Milwaukee Bucks—or perhaps lack thereof.
If Giannis Antetokounmpo finally, mercifully decides to bail on the Milwaukee Bucks, they'll likely be undergoing a full-scale rebuild. Granted, the new anti-tanking rules (whatever they wind up being) could dissuade teams from embracing Process-style rebuilds.
Either way, Rivers wouldn't seem likely to stick around in that scenario. He's shown little interest in coaching rebuilding teams in the past, and one can only imagine it hasn't increased as he's gotten older.
Even if the Greek Freak sticks around, it's unclear whether he'll want Rivers to stay as well. The Bucks badly underachieved this year—due in large part to Antetokounmpo's injuries—but Rivers hasn't even reached the conference finals since he won a title with the Boston Celtics in 2008.
Whether Antetokounmpo stays or goes, whatever path he chooses will likely decide Rivers' fate as well.
Nick Nurse, Philadelphia 76ers
Compared to last season, the Sixers have been a pleasant surprise. They need to win three of their final seven games to top their preseason win-loss over/under of 43.5, and they're finally getting healthy at the right time. (Famous last words.)
If Nurse can guide them to the second round of the playoffs—or even the conference finals for the first time in more than two decades—his job might be safe. Anything short of that could put him in real danger of receiving a pink slip, though.
Joel Embiid's injury issues over the past few years would be a blow to any coach, but they seemingly caught Nurse flat-footed last season. The Sixers were more well-prepared for Embiid's inevitable absences this year, although a few cracks have begun to emerge in their game plan.
The Sixers are in the bottom 10 leaguewide in both three-point makes and three-point percentage this season. They're below-average in rebounding, particularly on the defensive glass, and they're averaging the third-fewest assists per game of any team. Embiid also recently called for the Sixers to stop overhelping on defense, which has been a hallmark of Nurse's scheme this year.
The creativity that Nurse showed during his rise in Toronto hasn't been on display nearly as much as anticipated in Philadelphia. He did well to keep the Sixers afloat while they were massively short-handed after the All-Star break, but another early playoff exit might cost him his job.
Doug Christie, Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings began the process of a hard reset last year when they traded De'Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs. They're due for an even bigger one this offseason.
The Kings got rid of Keon Ellis and Dennis Schröder at the trade deadline this past February, but they held tight on moving Zach LaVine, Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan or Malik Monk. LaVine and DeRozan are now heading into the last year of their respective contracts, while Sabonis and Monk are only signed through 2027-28. Few (if any) of them will likely be on the Kings beyond next summer.
The Kings also need to decide whether Doug Christie is the right coach to guide them through their upcoming rebuild. He went 27-24 as their interim head coach in 2024-25, but they backslid to one of the league's worst records this year.
Christie's baffling refusal to play Ellis led to him being one of the hottest names at this year's trade deadline. The Kings otherwise built a roster of ill-fitting parts, so their struggles this year aren't entirely Christie's fault, but he didn't help make them better, either. They're one of the worst teams on both ends of the floor, and they're dead last leaguewide in both three-pointers made and attempted.
The only reason for Christie to keep his job is because he still has one guaranteed year left on his contract. However, Andscape's Marc J. Spears reported in February that there was a "disconnect between some veteran Kings players and Christie and his coaching staff."
Keeping him around beyond this year could erode any chances the Kings might have of turning themselves around in the near future.
Ime Udoka, Houston Rockets
Out of all of the coaches here, Ime Udoka should be least in danger of losing his job. It's not his fault that Fred VanVleet tore his ACL shortly before training camp began, leaving the Rockets without their starting point guard all year.
In VanVleet's absence, the Rockets' offense has been stagnant at times, which has contributed to some frustrating, avoidable losses. The Rockets' recent collapse against the Minnesota Timberwolves, during which they blew a 13-point lead in overtime, and their 100-92 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in mid-March underscored those problems.
"I mean, to be honest, I'm the offense and the opposing team is going to use all their resources and not let me get comfortable," Rockets star Kevin Durant told reporters after the Lakers loss.
The Rockets' defense has been hellacious both last year and this season under Udoka, which is a feather in his cap. But if their offense sputters in the playoffs, that could jeopardize his job security moving forward.