Dallas Basketball

Mavs Among 4 Teams Pursuing Former Hornets Coach James Borrego

With an open spot on Jason Kidd's staff, the Mavericks have been linked to show interest in the former Charlotte Hornets head coach.
Michael Mulford|
Mavs Among 4 Teams Pursuing Former Hornets Coach James Borrego
Mavs Among 4 Teams Pursuing Former Hornets Coach James Borrego

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Dallas Mavericks

As the NBA playoffs near the Conference Finals, the eliminated teams around the league are gearing up for the NBA Draft and free agency. Though, organizational moves have already begun for the Dallas Mavericks in their early arrival into the offseason. 

On April 26, ESPN's Tim MacMahon reported that Mavericks assistant Greg St. Jean would not return to Dallas' staff next season after two seasons on Jason Kidd's staff. On April 30, NBA Insider Marc Stein reported that two candidates to watch for the vacancy on Kidd's bench are James Borrego and Jeff Hornacek.

On Friday, Stein reported via Substack that the Mavericks aren't alone in their interest in former Hornets head coach. In fact, Borrego has already met with New Orleans Pelicans and the Houston Rockets, and the Brooklyn Nets are also expected to pursue Borrego.

"Former Hornets and Magic coach James Borrego is drawing interest from several teams to return to the bench as a top assistant, league sources say," Stein wrote. "I reported Sunday about Dallas’ interest in hiring Borrego to join Jason Kidd’s staff, but sources say he was already being pursued by the New Orleans Pelicans before the Mavericks had an opening … with other teams (presumed to be Houston and Brooklyn) also said to be circling."

As Stein noted, Borrego has worked with both Brooklyn Nets coach Jacque Vaughn and Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka, which could give those two teams an advantage over the Mavericks.

For Borrego, he took the 2022-23 season off following his dismissal from his post as Charlotte's head coach from 2018-22. In his four seasons, Borrego held a winning percentage of .458 while failing to make a single postseason appearance.

Adding the offensive-minded Borrego could help add a little juice and creativity to Dallas' sets, out of bounds plays, and end-of-game situations, where the team seemed to settle for a ton of isolations and Luka Doncic step-backs time and time again.

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Michael Mulford
MICHAEL MULFORD

Michael Mulford is a writer/editor for Dallas Basketball, where he extensively covers the Dallas Mavericks. He also covers the Chicago Bulls as the Managing Editor for Bulls Wire of USA Today Sports Media Group. Mulford grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and graduated from the University of North Texas in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in Recreation, Event, and Sports Management. He began his pursuit of sports writing in 2017 with Dallas Sports Fanatic, where he covered the Mavericks’ G League affiliate, Texas Legends. He then became the Managing Editor of Dallas Sports Fanatic just one year later and has covered the Mavericks as a credentialed media member since 2018, including covering numerous playoff games between 2021-22 and covering the team at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas in 2019. In his time covering the Mavericks, Mulford has conducted numerous interviews for exclusive stories including with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki, former Maverick and current VP of Basketball Ops Michael Finley, former Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson, and more. You can follow and interact with Mulford on Twitter at @TheMulf.

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