The Magic have requested permission to interview Nuggets associate head coach Wes Unseld Jr. for their head coaching vacancy, reports Mike Singer of The Denver Post (Twitter link).
While Singer doesn’t clarify whether Denver granted Orlando permission, there’s no reason to believe the Nuggets wouldn’t do so. When Unseld received a promotion last December, head coach Michael Malone said in a statement that his top assistant was “ready and deserving of a head coaching position in the NBA,” adding that it would only be a matter of time before that opportunity came.
Unseld is also expected to be in the mix for the Wizards‘ newly-opened head coaching job, a league source tells Singer (Twitter link).
Unseld has previously worked as an assistant coach for both the Wizards (2005-11) and Magic (2012-15), so he’s already familiar with both franchises.
It’s worth noting that his father, Hall-of-Famer Wes Unseld Sr., was a D.C. icon. The elder Unseld earned five All-Star nods and an MVP award in Baltimore and Washington for the then-Bullets, then coached the team and later held a front office role. However, it remains to be seen whether that history would make his son more inclined to pursue the Wizards’ job over an opportunity with the Magic or another team.
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