Rumor: Portland Trail Blazers to Hire New Head Coach

The Portland Trail Blazers are looking for a fresh voice behind their bench and it sounds like there's some mutual interest between the Blazers and Mike D'Antoni.

The 70-year-old assistant of the Brooklyn Nets has made it known he's seriously interested in the job and it's been confirmed he's made the team's very short list of candidates. The two-time Coach of the Year has been around the block, coaching in the league for over 16 NBA seasons. He recently was the main man in Houston with the Rockets, where he made the playoffs every year and compiled a 217-101 record.

The Rockets made the West Finals back in 2018 and D'Antoni's style of coaching with the talent assembled in Portland should be a great fit as there's a ton of focus on the offensive side of the basketball. 

While D'Antoni's name has come up it was made no secret that Blazers' star Damian Lillard wanted Jason Kidd hired, but Kidd has turned down the role. There's some talk that Lillard's second choice was Chauncey Billups, but as we reported yesterday, he's the favorite for the gig in Boston. We'll have to see how the chips fall, and it sounds like that could be coming sometime this weekend or early next week.

Photo credit:  Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports