Micah Nori has had a successful run as Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch's right-hand man since Finch brought him in to help lead the Timberwolves in the 2021-22 season and they've had a relatively successful run together, but now Nori might be eyeing a leading man position of his own.

There is certainly a hot market for head coaches at the moment with relatively few people with head coaching experience available that haven't already been signed with teams, such as new Milwaukee Bucks head coach Taylor Jenkins. 

That creates a prime opportunity for someone like Nori, who has been in the rooms as an assistant coach for NBA teams since 2009, but he's never led a team himself. 

Granted, it's still early in the offseason, if it can even be called an offseason at all yet considering the NBA Finals are still underway, and Nori hasn't heard anything definitive from any prospective teams, but that hasn't stopped him from having conversations, something he said on Sirius XM NBA Radio.

"I haven't heard anything really from Dallas," Nori said. "Had just some feelers out with Chicago. They're very, very early in their stage. And then Portland, same thing, just some, you know, some conversations here and there. Nothing too serious. These guys are all taking their time and doing their due diligence as they can."

Nori followed up his statement by reiterating how happy he is with Minnesota and if it turns out that he doesn't have a head coaching job coming his way, he can still be content with that.

That doesn't mean that the team's he's considering are any less interesting. The Chicago Bulls are likely a long way out from getting back to playoff contention, but having a new coach like Nori taking the helm of such a young that's gearing up for a full rebuild is certainly an interesting move.

Dallas is a bit farther along than the Bulls are when it comes to being back as competitors, and a team headlined by Cooper Flagg will always be interesting if they no longer have Anthony Davis on their roster.

The Mavericks still need to make a few significant leaps, but some fresh blood in Nori as their coach could be the steady hand they need as those leaps are taken. 

That leaves the Portland Trail Blazers, the last team that Nori mentioned in his statement, as the closest thing to a complete competitor of the three.

They may have been first round exits in the playoffs against the San Antonio Spurs this season and haven't made it past the first round since 2019, but they still have a lot of promise, even as the West grows tougher. 

Still, as Nori said, everything is in the early stages, but by this time next year Nori could be with a different team, this time at the helm himself.