The Indiana Pacers fired head coach Nate McMillan exactly two weeks after the team announced a one-year extension.
ESPN reported Wednesday that the Pacers had "added a team option for 2021-2022 in form of a soft extension," but both sides announced it as an extension at the time.
The Pacers were swept out of the first round for the second straight year, and it's true that McMillan's teams lost in the first round all four years he coached the team, as Indiana made sure to point it out in its statement.
"McMillan took over coaching duties of the Pacers prior to the 2016-17 season; and in his four years with the team led them to a 183-136 record, including 3-16 in the playoffs," the team wrote.
But what, exactly, McMillan was supposed to do in Orlando with a half-strength Victor Oladipo and an inactive Domantas Sabonis is unclear. The Pacers' two leading scorers in the Miami series were Malcolm Brogdon and T.J. Warren.
Under McMillan, the Pacers admirably repurposed themselves into a contender around Oladipo after Paul George forced his way off the team. When Oladipo went down with a ruptured quad that cost him most of the last two seasons, the Pacers kept winning as Sabonis became an All-Star. When Sabonis went down in the bubble, McMillan took the blame.
