Whenever the Portland Trail Blazers’ playoff ride ends this spring, the organization will be entering an offseason of uncertainty regarding its head coaching situation. While Blazers interim head coach Tiago Splitter has done an admirable job leading Portland to the postseason and is a contender to take the position on a permanent basis, reports have shown new Trail Blazers owner Tom Dundon is weighing his options on the coaching market.
One thing that could complicate the process: Dundon’s desired
price point. According to multiple reports, the new owner is attempting to pay much lower than the standard NBA rate of about $4 million for the team’s next head coach.
In the latest of those reports, national reporter Jake Fischer of The Stein Line wrote Dundon apparently doesn’t want to pay over $1.5 million annually for the important role (subscription required).
It’s no reflection on the admirable job Tiago Splitter has done as Portland’s interim coach since replacing Chauncey Billups before Game 2 of an 82-game season. The consistent word for weeks about new Blazers owner Tom Dundon is his apparent desire to pay no more than $1.5 million annually for a new head coach. That’s well below the current NBA standard … even for a first-time head coach.
From $1 million to $1.5 million is actually the price range for the league’s top assistant coaches, but Portland’s desire to spend so modestly on a full-time replacement for Billups has been widely communicated and figures to have a significant impact on the process no matter how attractive an NBA head coaching position — there’s only 30 in the world and all that — looks on paper.
Fischer reported the Blazers have so far “held some level of exploratory dialogue” with about 20 international and college coaches to discuss the position. However, unless Dundon raises the reported salary, the college route could also prove difficult during the Blazers’ search, Fischer explained.
High-level college coaches, however, also make far more than the Blazers appear willing to spend on a new shot-caller. As a result, Portland is most frequently projected by coaching insiders to hire a current NBA assistant to take over unless something can be worked out with Splitter, who has said publicly that he hopes to retain the job.
Outside of this story from Fischer, local sportswriter Dwight Jaynes and The Oregonian’s Bill Oram also reported in recent weeks that it is believed Dundon is shopping for a new head coach in around that range of $1 million per year.
The coaching search intel comes amid other media stories highlighting early signs of cost-cutting within the organization under Dundon. Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix reported some Blazers staffers were put in an inconvenient position at their Phoenix hotel on Tuesday because the franchise wanted to avoid late-checkout fees. Plus, for the first time in years, the Blazers won’t be providing free commemorative T-shirts to fans during Games 3 and 4 of their upcoming playoff series with the San Antonio Spurs, Blazers President Dewayne Hankins told KATU. (Although Blazers new minority owner Sheel Tyle promptly jumped in on X and said the team wasn’t giving away T-shirts because they’re doing something else at the Moda Center during the series).
Unlike different hotel checkout habits and free fan T-shirts, reports about Dundon trying to pay low for a head coach could carry more tangible implications for the Blazers’ on-court quality in the years to come.
