Almost a month into the search and one week before the NBA Draft, we have a podium of options for the Mavs' next head coach
The Dallas Mavericks are in the thick of NBA Draft scouting as we are one week away from the June 23 first round, in which Dallas has picks at No. 9 and 30 overall.
Amidst this process, the team is also searching for its next head coach after Jason Kidd mutually parted ways with the franchise and its new front office on May 20.
Throughout each candidate interview, we bet there have been detailed discussions about how the Mavs might attack their position in the draft, or who that coach might prefer to begin his tenure next to Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving.
New top executive Masai Ujiri hasn't let much get past him regarding the leading choices, but NBA reporter Marc Stein reports that there is a trio of coaches under the most consideration.
There is also time within this search where other candidates could emerge.
Micah Nori
Like former Mavs and San Antonio Spurs assistant Sean Sweeney, who now takes over in Orlando, Nori is the next obvious "up-and-comer" in this cycle who could land a first-time head coaching job.
The 52-year-old Minnesota assistant has experience filling in for Chris Finch in leading the Timberwolves, and has connections in Toronto, where Ujiri was a general manager, but Stein also claims that he's a top candidate for the other vacancy in the league, with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Former Blazers interim coach Tiago Splitter has agreed to take the Chicago Bulls job as they clean shop in the Windy City.
Due to Nori's reported popularity, Dallas has kept its options open.
Royal Ivey
Ivey has deep ties within the basketball industry in Africa, as does Ujiri.
The Houston Rockets assistant, 44, made a name for himself during the Paris Olympics as the head coach of South Sudan, where he led the country to its first-ever Olympic win against Puerto Rico before putting up admirable efforts against Serbia and the United States.
Ivey also has stops across the NBA with the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets, where he worked with Steve Nash.
Terry Stotts
Far and away, Stotts commands the most NBA head coaching experience of these potential finalists.
Stotts, 68, has previous head-coaching stops at Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Portland. Stein says he is only interested in pursuing an opportunity to be a head coach in the near future.
The Mavs could make that happen ... and some leverage might be how Stotts was a part of the team's most iconic era.
Stotts was an assistant to Rick Carlisle in Dallas from 2008 to 2012, including serving on the 2011 championship team.
From there, he earned his third head coach gig, landing with the Trail Blazers and beginning his longest tenure as a head coach. Stotts was in Portland from 2012 to 2021 and had a record of 402-318 (.558). Since he departed from the Blazers, he took the Warriors job in 2024 after a three-year hiatus.
Overall, Stotts, 68, is 517-486 (.515) as an NBA head coach during the regular season. In the playoffs, his win percentage drops to 34.3 percent with a 23-44 record.
