Houston head coach Mike D’Antoni said Thursday that he does not expect his lack of a long-term contract extension to be a distraction for the Rockets in the 2019-20 NBA season.
“No,” D’Antoni said when asked by play-by-play broadcaster Craig Ackerman whether his contract could be a distraction. He added:
It will not change my focus or what I try to do.
D’Antoni and Ackerman spoke on the latest episode of the franchise’s official RocketsCast Live podcast.
“You try and take care of business in the summertime,” D’Antoni said of his contract status. “Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. So be it, it didn’t work out. We both tried.”
But it doesn’t change anything. How would it? It can’t change anything. The players… either I have a good relationship with, or I don’t. They can fire you with one year left on your contract, or with 15. What do they care? Coaches are a drop in the bucket.
In a separate interview Thursday, Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta said he expects D’Antoni “to be coaching here for a long time.”
Earlier in the offseason, GM Daryl Morey told ESPN Radio that if the Rockets and D’Antoni couldn’t come to an agreement this year, they would “work it out after next season.”
D’Antoni is entering the final year of the four-year contract he signed in 2016 to become the 13th head coach in Rockets franchise history.
Over three seasons with the Rockets, the 68-year-old D’Antoni is 173-73 (.703) in 246 regular-season games and 23-16 (.590) in 39 postseason games. Both winning percentages are the highest by any coach in Houston franchise history.
