Clippers Interview Sam Cassell For Head Coaching Job

The Clippers interviewed assistant coach Sam Cassell on Tuesday for their open head coaching job, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Cassell, a former NBA player who won two titles with the Rockets and a third with the Celtics, transitioned into coaching after he retired in 2009. He spent five seasons on the Wizards’ staff as an assistant and has worked since 2014 under Doc Rivers in Los Angeles. Rivers endorsed his longtime assistant as a deserving NBA head coaching candidate last month before he parted ways with the Clippers.

“Sam Cassell should be a head coach, period,” Rivers said at the time.

Cassell is the second Clippers assistant to have interviewed for the team’s coaching vacancy so far, joining Tyronn Lue. The club has also reportedly met with Mike Brown, Darvin Ham, and Wes Unseld Jr. and is said to have interest in Jeff Van Gundy. It’s not clear how many other candidates the Clippers may interview before making a decision.

Cassell was also said to be drawing some interest from the Rockets, but it doesn’t appear that he has interviewed with Houston to this point. If he doesn’t receive a head coaching job this fall, it will be interesting to see whether Cassell remains in his assistant role with the Clippers, follows Rivers to Philadelphia, or ends up on another team’s coaching staff.

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