Washington Wizards Hire Scott Brooks

The Wizards have hired former Thunder coach Scott Brooks

The Washington Wizards have hired former Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks as their new head coach following their firing of Randy Wittman. The deal for Brooks is worth $35 million over five years.

After posting a disappointing 41-41 season in which the team missed the playoffs for the first time since 2013, Randy Wittman was fired by the team in mid-April.

Rumors then began to swirl who the Wizards would hire as their new head coach, and Brooks as well as former-Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau emerged as the frontrunners for the job.

It’s no surprise that the Wizards snatched up Brooks as fast as they could, as they’re very obviously interested in pursuing DC-native Kevin Durant in free agency, and having his former coach who took him to the NBA Finals is not a bad place to start.

Aside from the obvious angle of hopefully luring Kevin Durant to DC, Brooks is a proven coach, posting a 338-207 record with the Thunder before being fired by the team last year. While Brooks hasn’t yet won an NBA championship, he did go to one in 2012 with the Thunder, and his .620 career winning percentage is the highest amongst coaches to never win a championship.

Along with his track record of winning, Brooks has shown that he has a fantastic ability to develop players. He’s also had experience handling a young star of a point guard in Russell Westbrook during his time in Oklahoma City, experience that will likely prove useful in working with John Wall.

With Brooks’ track record of success and the immense talent the Wizards have, the team should have a lot of success very soon. And if Brooks does ultimately help the Wizards get Kevin Durant? We’re looking at a very serious championship contender.