For the first time since 1996, Gregg Popovich will not open the season as the Spurs' head coach. Michael Malone was fired with just three games remaining in 2024-25 during his 10th year with the Nuggets. Taylor Jenkins received the same treatment last season with nine games left in his sixth year with the Grizzlies. Tom Thibodeau was fired after five years as the head coach of the Knicks.
These head coaching changes have helped to allow Timberwolves coach Chris Finch to be one of the most tenured head coaches in the NBA.
Only five head coaches have been with their team longer than Chris Finch
On February 22, 2021, Minnesota hired Finch to become their 14th head coach in franchise history. He replaced the recently-fired Ryan Saunders. It was a somewhat surprising hire at the time since Finch came outside the organization with no NBA head coaching experience. He was an assistant coach with the Raptors before being brought in by Minnesota.
The NBA sees head coaching changes happen rather frequently. It even occurs after the team has success, as evidenced by the Knicks dumping Thibodeau after making their first Eastern Conference finals in 25 years. That’s why, despite Finch preparing for just his fifth full season as head coach of the Timberwolves, he is already one of the longest-tenured in the league. As a matter of fact, he is the sixth-most tenured out of the 30 active head coaches.
With Popovich gone, Erik Spoelstra of the Heat takes over as the longest-tenured. He has held his position since April of 2008.
The other four that are more tenured than Finch are Steve Kerr with the Warriors (May 2014), Billy Donovan with the Bulls (September 2020), Tyronn Lue with the Clippers (October 2020), and Mark Daigenault with the Thunder (November 2020).
Only behind Flip Saunders for longest time with Timberwolves
A Timberwolves franchise that has had many unsuccessful seasons also hasn’t had a lot of long-term head coaches. Finch has already held the position longer than anyone except one man.
Of course, that man is Flip Saunders. He was the team’s head coach for 819 regular season games. Finch, with 369 regular season games, has a long way to go before surpassing him.
Finch is one of only three Wolves head coaches, along with Saunders and Tom Thibodeau, to coach them in the playoffs. His 42 career postseason games are just five behind Saunders’ 47.