Report: Indiana Pacers Hire Former Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle

After calling it quits with Nate McMillan as the head coach following last year's postseason failures, the Indiana Pacers looked to start a new era with former Toronto Raptors assistant coach Nate Bjorkgren.

The Bjorkgren era in Indiana seemed to have gotten off to a good start in 2020-2021, but everything suddenly started to go South throughout the year. Towards the end of the season, it seemed Bjorkgren's seat was already heating up in Indiana as there was reportedly a lot of tension between the head coach and his locker room down the stretch.

The first-year Pacers head coach had an opportunity to save his job with a playoff appearance in year one, but Indiana fell short as they lost their second matchup of the NBA Play-In tournament against the Washington Wizards, who clinched the eighth and final seed in the Eastern Conference bracket.

Once Indiana fell short and found themselves finished early, the Pacers' organization made the tough decision to cut ties with Bjorkgren after just one season. As several notable head coaching candidates became available, the Pacers were expected to go on another in-depth search to find the ideal candidate this offseason.

But it didn't take them too long to find what they were looking for.

Sources: The Pacers are hiring Rick Carlisle as head coach. He will sign a 4-year, $29 million contract.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) June 24, 2021

According to ESPN's Tim McMahon, the Pacers are hiring Rick Carlisle to become their next head coach. Despite having plans to interview several candidates this week, the Pacers worked "quietly and quickly" to kick the tires on hiring Carlisle, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Carlisle, who coached the Dallas Mavericks since 2008, decided to step down as the head coach last week. Now that he joins the Pacers in the East, he'll acquire his fourth head coaching job in the NBA, and he lands in a familiar location as he's coached the Pacers before early on in his career for four seasons.

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