The Portland Trail Blazers have turned to a longtime NBA assistant to be their next head coach.
The Blazers have hired Micah Nori to fill the league’s last coaching vacancy, according to two team sources, luring the 52-year-old away from the Minnesota Timberwolves’ bench to replace the departed Tiago Splitter.
Nori, who has served as an assistant with five different organizations and been a candidate for top jobs multiple times in recent years, will become an NBA head coach for the first time in his career.
He signed a 1-year deal, which includes team options for each of the next two seasons, a team source confirmed. The Athletic first reported details of the contract.
“After an extensive search process, it became clear that Micah embodies the qualities we are looking for in the leader of this franchise,” Blazers general manager Joe Cronin said in a release. “He has been a key contributor to successful organizations and brings a wealth of expertise, a proven ability to develop players and an authenticity that aligns with the culture we are building. We are excited about the future under his direction and look forward to what we can accomplish together.”
It’s the first significant hire under new owner Tom Dundon and follows an exhaustive and rather unorthodox search that informally began during the regular season and raised eyebrows across the league. Cronin said in April that the Blazers would “cast a wide net” in pursuit of the franchise’s 17th coach and Dundon did just that.
He quietly started surveying the coaching landscape months ago — while the Blazers and Splitter were in the midst of a playoff chase — and checked in on dozens of potential candidates. When Splitter, who served as acting coach last season, left for the head coaching job in Chicago, Dundon narrowed the list to a pair of finalists — Nori and Boston Celtics assistant Tyler Lashbrook — before settling on Nori in the end.
He also reportedly was in the mix for head coaching jobs in Chicago and Dallas.
Nori, who began his NBA coaching journey as an assistant with the Toronto Raptors in 2009, has coached in the league for parts of the last three decades and is highly respected in NBA circles. He developed a reputation early in his career for creating fast, free-flowing offenses, but also has earned praise for his defensive acumen, especially in Minnesota, where Nori helped build one of the league’s best defenses as Chris Finch’s lead assistant.
The Timberwolves have ranked among the top eight in defensive rating in each of the last three seasons, including No. 1 in 2023-24. Along the way, Minnesota emerged as a Western Conference force, winning five playoff series and making two Western Conference finals appearances over the last three seasons.
In Portland, Nori will take over an athletic and intriguing roster that features a mix of accomplished veterans (All-Stars Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday) and young talent (Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, Donovan Clingan, Shaedon Sharpe and Scoot Henderson). The group exceeded expectations last season, reaching the playoffs for the first time in five years.
But Nori is also taking over at an unprecedented time of transition for the organization. Splitter became the Blazers’ acting coach on the second day of the regular season, when Chauncey Billups was arrested by federal agents and placed on leave by the NBA. A few months later, ownership changed from the Paul G. Allen Estate to Dundon and a group of investors.
Splitter led the Blazers stoically during the upheaval and earned the trust of the roster, steering the Blazers to a surprising 42-40 regular season record and a win over the Phoenix Suns in the play-in tournament. They lost to the San Antonio Spurs in five games in the first round of the playoffs.
Dundon, who has said his goal is winning above all else, will expect more.
“From my conversations with Tom and Joe, it was evident that there is a strong commitment to building a culture that values accountability, development and team success,” Nori said in a release. “This is a team with tremendous talent, and I’m excited to begin working with our players and staff.”
Nori, who was born in Middleton, Ohio, played baseball and basketball at Indiana before landing in the NBA. He started as an advance scout with the Raptors in 1998 under coach Butch Carter and spent more than a decade in the organization before coach Jay Triano promoted him to assistant coach.
Nori went on to work under respected coaches Mike Malone, Dwane Casey, Triano and Finch during a career that has included stops in Toronto, Sacramento, Denver, Detroit and Minnesota. And while he has drawn praise for his X’s and O’s and development chops, Nori also has earned a reputation as a relationship-builder with a humorous personality.
He regularly conducted sideline interviews during halftime of Timberwolves games and often mixed random one-liners into his analysis. The light-hearted quips, which have made the rounds on social media, have earned Nori the title as the “Ted Lasso of the NBA.”
But his coaching acumen is no joke and while this is Nori’s first head coaching job, he’s not a complete stranger to the job.
Nori was forced to fill in for Finch a couple times over the years, most notably during the 2024 playoffs, when Finch ruptured his patellar tendon in Game 4 of a first-round series against the Suns.
Nori not only led Minnesota to a win in that game, but also to a victory over the Nuggets in seven games in the next round, carrying the Timberwolves to the Western Conference finals.
