Charles Lee agrees to 4-year deal as Hornets coach, sources say.
Boston Celtics lead assistant coach Charles Lee has agreed on a four-year contract to become the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets, sources told ESPN on Thursday morning.Lee, 39, had risen to become one of the league's most accomplished assistant coaches and now lands with new executive president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson in Charlotte to preside over the Hornets' rebuild. Lee and Peterson began their NBA careers together with the Atlanta Hawks.
Lee will complete the Celtics' playoff run before moving over to join the Hornets on a full-time basis, sources said.
Suns fire coach Frank Vogel after being swept in first round.
The Phoenix Suns fired head coach Frank Vogel on Thursday, 11 days after the team was swept out of the postseason's first round by the Minnesota Timberwolves.Former Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer is expected to be a prominent candidate to replace Vogel, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
As we said at the press conference on May 1, team leadership including myself, Josh Bartelstein, and ownership would be looking across basketball operations to determine what changes needed to be made," Suns general manager James Jones said in a statement. "After a thoughtful review of the season, we concluded that we needed a different head coach for our team. We appreciate Frank's hard work and commitment."
The Suns underperformed in Vogel's lone season at the helm, especially given the caliber of talent in stars Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal. The latter two were acquisitions after owner Mat Ishbia took over the team in February 2023.
Vogel, who went 49-33 in Phoenix, was signed to a five-year, $31 million deal in June 2023. He succeeded Monty Williams, who was fired after the team's Western Conference semifinals loss to the Denver Nuggets. Following the 122-116 loss in Game 4 to the Timberwolves on April 28, the Suns have now lost six straight playoff games -- the longest playoff losing streak in franchise history.
Prior to being swept, Vogel said he was "very" confident that he would return next season and that he had the "full support" of Ishbia.
This was Vogel's fourth time as a head coach, after stops with the Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic and Indiana Pacers. He has a career mark of 479-422.
Before winning a title in L.A., Vogel led the Pacers to the Eastern Conference semifinals twice. Vogel had the NBA's top-rated defense three times in his career -- twice with Indiana and once with the Lakers, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
The Suns enter the offseason with $209 million in salary, the biggest payroll of any NBA team, and face a projected luxury tax penalty of $116 million.
The Suns also will be above the so-called second apron of the luxury tax for at least the next three years if they keep their core together. That position would lead to punitive consequences, limiting their ability to add to their roster.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle fined $35K for criticizing refs.
INDIANAPOLIS -- The NBA fined Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle $35,000 on Friday for criticizing the officiating in his team's playoff series with the New York Knicks -- comments that also drew the ire of guard Josh Hart."Rick's saying whatever he feels. It has nothing to do with us at the end of the day. I think it's pretty disrespectful to us," Hart said after shootaround Friday morning. "Because at the end of the day, we're out there playing and competing at a high level. It's not about officiating. It's not about anything like that."
As part of his case, Carlisle flagged a non-call when Hart made contact with Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton in the third quarter of the Knicks' 130-121 Game 2 victory Wednesday. It was presumably one of the plays the Pacers sent to the league office Thursday. Sources told ESPN the Pacers identified 78 plays to the NBA where they felt disadvantaged by a referee decision in Games 1 and 2 combined.
Carlisle also questioned whether the Knicks were getting preferential treatment as a big-market team compared to his small-market Pacers. The NBA said Carlisle was fined for, in part, "questioning the integrity of the league and its officials."
"Small-market teams deserve an equal shot," Carlisle said Wednesday. "They deserve a fair shot no matter where they're playing."
Hart rejected Carlisle's stance that the Pacers were not getting a fair whistle because of their market size.
"F--- no. That's so stupid, bro. We're gonna say the big market always wins? The Knicks ain't won the chip in 51 years, so obviously that don't really hold much weight," said Hart, who played in small markets in New Orleans and Portland before coming to New York last season. "I think that's just idiotic. At the end of the day, it's playing the best, and I've never seen a ref shoot a free throw or make a 3 or miss a rotation, you know what I mean?"
Carlisle had said the Pacers decided not to send the Game 1 calls to the league office for review but reversed that decision after Game 2 had similar officiating issues, from their perspective.
"We're always talking to our guys about not making it about the officials, but we deserve a fair shot," Carlisle said after Game 2. "Give New York credit for the physicality that they're playing with, but their physicality is rewarded and ours is penalized just time after time."
The Knicks lead the best-of-seven series 2-0 ahead of Friday's Game 3 in Indianapolis (7 p.m. ET, ESPN).
