Trail Blazers hire Micah Nori as head coach to fill final NBA vacancy

The Trail Blazers have their new head coach.Lead Timberwolves assistant coach Micah Nori is heading to Portland to fill the last coaching vacancy in the NBA, per multiple reports.Nori, 52, has been an assistant coach since 2009 and now finally gets the chance to lead his own team.Widely regarded as one of the NBA’s best assistant coaches, Nori spent five years in Minnesota before the Portland hire, and previously served as an assistant coach in Toronto, Sacramento, Denver, and Detroit.His diverse profile includes serving as an intern, advance scout, scouting director, player development coach and offensive coordinator through his multiple stops.Nori had previously interviewed for coaching vacancies for the Lakers and Knicks, and the Bulls and Mavericks expressed interest in this cycle as well.The one-year deal with Portland, which reportedly includes team options the following two seasons, was finalized Tuesday morning.Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin conducted an extensive head coaching search.Other finalists included Celtics assistant Tyler Lashbrook and former interim coach Tiago Splitter, whom the Bulls hired last week.

Splitter was Portland’s interim coach for one year after Chauncey Billups was suspended.In Nori’s five years with the Timberwolves under head coach Chris Finch, the team posted the fifth-best record in the NBA and made five trips to the postseason, including Western Conference Finals berths in 2024 and 2025.During the 2024 playoffs, Finch was recovering from a knee injury and Nori took on some in-game coaching duties.The Trail Blazers were 42-40 last season and clinched a playoff spot as the seventh seed in the West, but lost in the first round to the eventual Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs in five games....