One day after GM leaves, Carlisle resigns as Mavs coach.
On Thursday, Rick Carlisle announced his resignation as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, marking the team’s second significant departure in as many days.
After spending 13 seasons in Dallas, Carlisle helped the Mavericks win the NBA championship in 2011. One day after general manager Donnie Nelson and the team decided to part ways, he made his choice public. Nelson had been with the company for 24 years.
Carlisle added, “This was solely my decision,” in a statement to ESPN that was made just before the franchise announced his departure.
After New Orleans, Washington, Orlando, Indiana, Portland, and Boston, where Carlisle was a member of the 1986 NBA champion squad, Dallas is now the ninth team without a head coach.
The Mavericks now require a general manager and coach. In the offseason, they also plan to extend the contract of 22-year-old Luka Doncic, who is now a two-time All-NBA player.
After going 555–478 in Dallas, Carlisle led a squad led by Dirk Nowitzki to its first and only championship in Mavs history in 2011. In the ten seasons that followed, Dallas made six trips to the playoffs, never making it past the first round in any of them.
However, following the conclusion of the Mavs’ playoff run this year, which included a 0–3 home defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers in a seven-game first-round series, Dallas owner Mark Cuban maintained that Carlisle was secure and would return.
Apparently, Carlisle had other intentions. After having “a number of in-person conversations” with Cuban in recent days, Carlisle told ESPN that he decided it was time to part ways.
Cuban stated, “Rick told me today about his decision to step down as head coach.” He was a great basketball coach, but he was also a confidant and a friend. I will always treasure the memories Rick helped us bring the O’Brien Trophy to Dallas.
As the head of the National Basketball Coaches Association, Carlisle has the longest tenure of any NBA coach in his present role and is the most successful coach in franchise history. In 1996, Gregg Popovich took over as head coach of San Antonio; around two weeks prior to Carlisle’s appointment to Dallas, Erik Spoelstra of Miami was elevated to head coach by the Heat.
