NBA Rumors: Former Sixers Coach Brett Brown Back With Spurs

It’s been a few seasons since Brett Brown has shown his face in the NBA. Just a couple of years ago, Brown was coaching the Philadelphia 76ers. He first landed his opportunity to coach the Sixers in 2013-2014, when they were starting a new era. At the time, Brown was a well-established assistant for the San Antonio Spurs.

Considering the 76ers were viewed as a tanking team, they didn’t find much success in Brown’s early days as the coach. In year one, Brown’s Sixers had just 19 wins. In year two, they had 18, and by year three, they went 10-72, which helped them land the first-overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. 

While the 76ers showed much more improvement in 2016-2017 as they went 28-54, it wasn’t until the 2017-2018 season when they finally turned the ship around and began making the playoffs. For three straight years, Brown helped coach the 76ers to the postseason. 

In the first two years, they made the playoffs under Brown’s management, and the Sixers made it to the second round. Unfortunately, they fell short both times. In 2019-2020, it was clear Brown was in the hot seat. Anything less than a Conference Championship appearance would be considered a failure.

Unfortunately, Philadelphia’s 2020 postseason run was short-lived. Not only did the Sixers fail to get past the first round, but they failed to even pick up a win. Brown was let go shortly after the Sixers were eliminated from the playoffs.

Since then, Brown hasn’t picked coaching back up. However, it seems that will change this year. According to Emiliano Carchia of Sportnado, Brown is set to return to the Spurs’ bench to coach under Gregg Popovich for the first time since 2013.

Like many former head coaches, Brown will take on an assistant role to get back into the swing of things in the NBA. As he begins working again, the former Sixers coach could gain steam as a head coaching candidate once again as early as next season.

As for the Spurs, they are getting a solid development coach for their young players. Since San Antonio is clearly headed towards a rebuild, Brown has proven to be a stellar coach for young players on a young team. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.