We’ve seen former players like Patrick Ewing, Jeff Hornacek, Kevin McHale, Luke Walton, Steve Kerr, Tyronn Lue, Sam Cassell, and countless others get into NBA coaching. Once you’re a true lifer, the game never leaves you.
For some of the modern greats, we like to wonder who might also want to stay with the game by coaching. Kobe Bryant, for example, was asked in December if he’s considered coaching after his retirement. Kobe literally thought that was funny.
LeBron James doesn’t seem to have the desire to coach when he hangs it up either, via Chris Haynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
“Man, I couldn’t be a head coach,” James said.” Boy, I’ll get blamed for every little thing. Can you imagine that? Please.”
Much like Steve Nash, who is helping out the Warriors with player development this season, LeBron’s IQ is what entices the idea of him becoming a head coach at some point. I tend to think that guys like Kobe and LeBron who have dominated the league over eras and endured a strenuous career of physical and mental stress would rather step away from the game completely once they’re done playing.
Maybe a more realistic card for someone like LeBron would be some kind of consulting position. He’s clearly not appealed by the prospect of becoming a coach. Besides, he probably does enough of that already.
