Nate McMillian was never officially linked to the Bulls' head coach search. Still, social media sentiment spread for Artūras Karnišovas to consider him with word the Indiana Pacers had fired him Wednesday.
But in an interview with The Athletic's Bob Kravitz, the veteran head coach made clear that won't be happening.
"I'm going to take this year and just look at things," McMillan told Kravitz. "A lot has changed. The league and the game have changed. So I'll take this year and see what happens. But I won't get back into it this season."
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The Pacers announced a one-year contract extension for McMillan just 14 days before his firing.
Karnišovas has said he and general manager Marc Eversley have no timeline for their hire. To this point, only the following names have been reported as expected targets: former Brooklyn Nets coach Kenny Atkinson, Denver Nuggets assistant Wes Unseld Jr., Milwaukee Bucks assistant Darvin Ham, Philadelphia 76ers assistant Ime Udoka, Dallas Mavericks assistant Stephen Silas and Minnesota Timberwolves assistant David Vanterpool. Other names likely will emerge.
Of those names, only Atkinson possesses previous NBA head coaching experience. The Bulls haven't hired a head coach with previous NBA head coaching experience since John Paxson fired former teammate Bill Cartwright and tabbed Scott Skiles in 2003.
McMillan owns a career record of 661-588 over successful stints with the Seattle SuperSonics, Portland Trail Blazers and Pacers. His reputation for getting teams to overachieve in the regular season would seemingly check Karnišovas' box for player development, and he's known as a strong communicator — another publicly stated prerequisite for the Bulls' search.
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The Indianapolis Star reported McMillan didn't place enough emphasis on relationship-building with players, another criteria that Karnisovas has emphasized publicly for his search.
McMillan almost certainly will coach again. According to him, it just won't be next season. And thus, it won't be for the Bulls.