When the Minnesota Timberwolves fired head coach Ryan Saunders last month and made the rare in-season move to hire Toronto Raptors assistant coach Chris Finch -- bypassing Wolves associate head coach David Vanterpool, who is Black -- it renewed the conversation about the NBA's hiring practices for coaches.
"It's discouraging," one Black NBA assistant coach told Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated.
The NBA's shift away from Black head coaches has been well-documented. Better representation in management was among the issues Miami Heat guard Avery Bradley, as leader of a coalition of concerned players, wanted the NBA to address ahead of its restart last summer.