Houston Rockets Ex Assistant Steve Clifford to Leave Charlotte Hornets Coaching Job

Steve Clifford was a Houston Rockets assistant coach from 2003-07.

A former Houston Rockets assistant will no longer be coaching in the NBA.

According to ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski, Charlotte Hornets coach Steve Clifford will step down after the season.

Clifford was an assistant coach for the New York Knicks from 2001-03 under Jeff Van Gundy and Don Chaney. When Van Gundy joined the Rockets at the start of the 2003-04 season, Clifford followed him to the Space City.

Mar 25, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Charlotte Hornets head coach Steve Clifford reacts in the second

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Clifford was an assistant for all four years under Van Gundy, and the team made the playoffs three times during that era with Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady leading the way. However, after Van Gundy left following the 2007 NBA Playoffs, Clifford left as well, joining Stan Van Gundy with the Orlando Magic.

Clifford enjoyed playoff success with the Magic as part of the coaching staff that saw the team reach the NBA Finals in 2009. He stayed with the Magic until 2012 before joining the Los Angeles Lakers after the Dwight Howard trade before becoming the head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats in 2013. He was the coach when the Bobcats changed their name back to the Hornets in 2014 and made the playoffs with the franchise twice before being fired at the end of the 2017-18 season.

Clifford went back to the Magic to coach the team from 2018-21 and made the playoffs twice with them. However, he never got out of the first round.

After Clifford left the Magic following a horrid 2020-21 season, he surprisingly re-joined the Hornets, where he has been the commander of a sinking ship for the past two years.

Now, it appears Clifford, 62, is leaving the bench for a front office role with the Hornets and his coaching days could soon be officially behind him.