While the Washington Wizards have been doing their due diligence, a top assistant coach the franchise had spoken to — Jamahl Mosley — took the Orlando coaching job.
The Wizards are still focused on top assistants, and three of them — Wes Unseld Jr., Darvin Ham, Charles Lee — are the finalists for the job, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Nuggets assistant Wes Unseld Jr. , and Bucks assistant Darvin Ham are the frontrunners in the Washington Wizards’ coaching search, sources tell ESPN. Bucks assistant Charles Lee has also emerged as a finalist.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 14, 2021
Unseld Jr., a top assistant in Denver for Michael Malone, has been linked to this job from the day it came open (in part because his father is a Washington legend, in part because he’s a guy ready for the big chair). Unseld had been in consideration in Orlando before they jumped at Mosley.
Ham and Lee are both well-respected assistants, and both remain busy on the staff of the Milwaukee Bucks, heading into Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
The new coach will replace Scott Brooks (who will be on Chauncey Billups staff in Portland). This is a coaching job with potential. They have superstars in Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook and role players such as Rui Hachimura, Deni Avdija, and Davis Bertans.
It also comes with the pressure of keeping Beal happy so he doesn’t leave, plus ownership that wants to win now and (at the very least) make the postseason (unless there is a sudden pivot to rebuild, in which case this is a very different job than the one it looks like right now).
Whatever happens, a deserving top assistant seems destined to get the job.