The Minnesota Timberwolves are finalizing a multi-year deal Monday to make Toronto Raptors assistant Chris Finch the new coach of the franchise, sources told ESPN.
Timberwolves basketball operations president Gersson Rosas fired Ryan Saunders on Sunday, paving the way for Minnesota to shy away from an interim coach and move quickly toward hiring a full-time replacement.
Rosas informed Saunders of the decision after a 103-99 loss to the New York Knicks that left the Timberwolves at 7-24, the worst record in the NBA.
Rosas retained Saunders as his head coach after being hired in May 2019, a process that included interviewing Finch for the job. Rosas and Finch have a history of their days together in the Houston Rockets.
Finch is expected to begin work Tuesday in Milwaukee with Saunders coaching staff in place, including associate head coach David Vanterpool and assistants Bryan Gates and Pablo Prigioni, sources said.
Finch has been an assistant coach in Houston, Denver, New Orleans and Toronto, and won the G-League title with Rio Grande Valley in 2010. Toronto hired Finch during the offseason as Nick Nurse’s top assistant, but no he would get in his way to accept a head coach job during the season, sources said.
No assistant coach has gone on to take a position as head coach with a new team during the season since Memphis hired Milwaukee’s Lionel Hollins in 2009.
Rosas did not want to spend the season with an interim coach, sources said, who wanted to maximize the development of a veteran core around center-star Karl-Anthony Towns Malik Beasley, No. 1 overall team Anthony Edwards and D’Angelo Russell, who is having knee surgery.
Saunders was 43-94 as coach of the Timberwolves in two more seasons as coach. He has only been able to coach his two All Star players, Towns and Russell, in five games since the franchise changed to Russell in February 2019.
Minnesota was hard hit by COVID-19 injuries and problems this season. Russell played 20 games before recently undergoing left knee surgery that will leave him sidelined for the next four to six weeks. Towns has only played 11 games this season between a wrist injury and the hiring of COVID-19.