Ranking best fits for Pelicans head-coaching search: Why Rajon Rondo, rising Spurs assistant make most sense

The New Orleans Pelicans have whittled down their candidates for next head coach.

On Tuesday, NBA insider Sam Amick wrote about the NBA's coaching carousel and shared four finalists — with a fifth, recently fired Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley — as names to watch.

Amick's report seemingly confirms interim coach James Borrego, who went 24-46, including 11-15 after the All-Star break, is no longer in the running. 

With that in mind, we rank the five likely favorites for the job from worst to best fit.

5. Darvin Ham

The lead assistant under Doc Rivers for the Milwaukee Bucks the past two seasons, Ham is the only of the four known candidates with prior head coaching experience, leading the Los Angeles Lakers for two seasons from 2022-24, going 99-86 (.535) overall, including 9-12 in the playoffs, which included a trip to the Western Conference Finals in the 2023.

He's also the least exciting possible Borrego replacement. As Lakers head coach, Los Angeles ranked No. 24 in points allowed (117 points per game) while producing a 114.6 defensive rating, which ranked 15th, per Stathead research. The Lakers finished seventh and eighth in the standings in Ham's two seasons, revealing a coach who would likely struggle to raise New Orleans' ceiling. If that was the best he could do with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, after all, what chance would he have with a substantially less proven core? The Pels shouldn't want to find out that answer.

4. Jamahl Mosley

If Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars prefers someone with prior experience (which would be odd considering three of the four reported finalists have never been an NBA head coach), Mosley would be the better choice.

The end of his run with the Magic is hard to look past, but once one climbs that mountain, his run with the franchise takes on a nicer glow. Mosley inherited a franchise that had one winning season and two playoff appearances in the nine years before his arrival. After going 22-60 in his first season, the Magic went 167-161 from 2022-26, making the playoffs in each of the past three seasons.

Orlando dealt with numerous injuries the past two years, but Mosley managed to keep the team afloat, which may be attractive for a Pels team that is seemingly always without a key player. He'd also be a good choice to lead improvement on defense after the Magic posted the league's fourth-best defensive rating (112.4) under his watch.

But that first-round collapse, which saw Orlando blow a 3-1 series lead to the Detroit Pistons and get outscored 171-113 over the last six quarters, should be enough to scare New Orleans away. The Pelicans were a poor shooting team last season, and as good of a defensive coach as Mosley is, his offense's limitations would dull any improvement on the other end.

3. Brooklyn Nets assistant coach Steve Hetzel

Hetzel first became an NBA assistant coach in 2011 with the Detroit Pistons, who were then led in the front office by Dumars. In the years since, he spent several years on Steve Clifford's staffs with the Charlotte Hornets and Magic, as well as the Portland Trail Blazers before joining the rebuilding Nets in 2024.

A candidate for the Phoenix Suns open job last offseason, azcentral.com profiled him in May 2025, with The Arizona Republic Suns insider Duane Rankin writing, "There's a toughness about Hetzel that makes him the ideal person to have in the trenches of competition, league sources say.

"One source called Hetzel 'unflappable' in describing his composure and calm demeanor," Rankin continued. 

Hetzel previously served as head coach in the G League and Summer League, indicative of his strength as a developmental coach, which would benefit promising 2025-26 rookies Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen.

2. Milwaukee Bucks coaching associate Rajon Rondo

Among the finalists, none illicit the amount of excitement as the thought of Rondo taking the reins. 

The 16-year NBA veteran played one season in New Orleans (2017-18), starting 72 games, including the playoffs, for the Pelicans, who went 48-34 and swept the Trail Blazers as a No. 6 seed in the first round of the playoffs. More recently, he's served as an associate coach under Rivers in Milwaukee, joining the organization in 2024.

Last month, The Athletic's Eric Nehm wrote about Rondo's impact in Bucks guard Ryan Rollins' breakout 2025-26 season, which saw the 2022 second-round pick (No. 44 overall) set multiple career highs, averaging 17.3 points, 5.6 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 47.2 percent, including 40.6 percent from beyond the arc on 6.1 attempts per game. 

"I know I can do it now," Rondo previously told The Athletic about being an NBA head coach. "I have the discipline, preparation and, obviously, it's about having the right people around you ... I definitely think I'll be ready to go."

1. San Antonio Spurs associate head coach Sean Sweeney

Sweeney and Pelicans senior vice president of basketball operations Troy Weaver overlapped in 2020-21 with the Pistons. Despite a push to re-sign him that offseason, Sweeney departed for the Dallas Mavericks, where he coached for four seasons, including the team's 2024 run to the NBA Finals, before joining San Antonio last June.