The Portland Trail Blazers hired Micah Nori as the new head coach after letting Tiago Splitter sign with the Chicago Bulls. However, the contract Nori signed stood out amongst the crowd, as the former Minnesota Timberwolves assistant signed a one-year deal with two years of team options.
Typically, head coaches in the NBA sign multi-year deals, as the plan is usually to allow that coach to build his program over the course of several seasons instead of just one. But Blazers owner Tom Dundon is running things a bit differently in Portland.
Dundon's approach is so different that the one-year deal Nori signed is blowing the minds of NFL coaches and executives, according to Jonathan Jones of CBS. Jones revealed the text messages he received in response to his question about the Blazers' contract for Micah Nori.
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“I have texted with several NFL coach/exec agents since I saw this tweet asking, ‘When is the last time you heard of a head coach in pro sports signing a one-year deal?' A sampling of some of their responses,” Jones stated…
“‘Never' 2x.
‘Um… never.'
‘WTF. That's insane.'
‘That's wild. Haven't heard of that.'
*eyes emoji*
Micah Nori's contract works heavily in the Blazers' favor. While Nori, who is 52 years old, will be given his first chance to prove himself as a head coach, he will only have one guaranteed year in Portland, which will be the 2026-27 campaign. The franchise has the power to decide to move on from Nori or keep him around for both the 2027-28 and 2028-29 seasons.
The finances of the deal are currently unknown. However, Tom Dundon has been said to have been offering candidates well below the market value of an NBA head coach for the role in Portland.
The Portland Trail Blazers hired Micah Nori as the new head coach after letting Tiago Splitter sign with the Chicago Bulls. However, the contract Nori signed stood out amongst the crowd, as the former Minnesota Timberwolves assistant signed a one-year deal with two years of team options.