Pistons' Head Coach Search Won't Affect 76ers For Now

The Detroit Pistons finished the 2022-2023 NBA regular season with a league-worst 17-65 record. For the fourth-straight season, the Pistons won’t be headed to the playoffs to join the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, and other teams.

With four-consecutive seasons of failure to make the postseason comes critical changes. On Sunday, Pistons head coach Dwane Casey announced that he is stepping down from the head coach position and moving into a new role with the front office.

With that move, the Pistons became one of two teams to create a head coach vacancy on Sunday.

Casey steps down after five seasons as Detroit's head coach. He wraps up his tenure with a 121-263 record.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, there are two notable candidates on the Pistons’ radar already. One is Milwaukee Bucks assistant Charles Lee, while the other is former Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka.

The latter coach is also a rumored candidate for the Houston Rockets’ position as well. So far, the Sixers don’t have any assistants garnering interest for open opportunities.

In the past, two of Doc Rivers’ top assistants, Sam Cassell and Dave Joerger, received interest from other organizations. Both have stuck around with the Sixers.

But with the Rockets and the Pistons expected to broaden their searches in the coming weeks, Doc Rivers’ staff have a candidate or two for some of the positions available.

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