In what is popping into a special day for the Washington Wizards, they’re on the verge of reaching a cope with Denver Nuggets affiliate head coach Wes Unseld Jr. — the son of Wizards nice and Corridor of Famer Wes Unseld Sr. — to develop into their subsequent coach, an individual aware of particulars advised USA TODAY Sports activities.

The individual requested anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to talk publicly till the deal is accomplished.

The youthful Unseld has been on the verge of a head teaching place for the previous few seasons, and with the timing proper, he’s coming residence to D.C. He was born in close by Maryland, grew up across the NBA along with his dad who starred for the Wizards, after which joined the Wizards as a scout after graduating from Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins College.

Unseld has spent the previous six seasons with the Denver Nuggets, rising to affiliate head coach beneath Michael Malone. The Nuggets have develop into one of many prime groups within the NBA the 2 previous seasons with Nikola Jokic’s emergence as an MVP and Jamal Murray as a prime scoring guard on the verge of All-Star standing.

Nuggets president Tim Connelly referred to as Unseld some of the hard-working guys within the NBA and one the nicest folks within the league.

Unseld will convey a defensive-minded mentality to the Wizards. He was thought-about Denver’s defensive coordinator, and the Nuggets completed eleventh in defensive score this season.

He takes over a crew that had a robust end to the season after battling COVID-19 and well being and security protocols earlier within the 12 months. The Wizards reached the play-in match and superior to the playoffs because the eight seed within the Jap Convention, shedding 4-1 to the top-seeded Philadelphia 76ers within the first spherical.

Unseld may have expertise with Bradley Beal, Russell Westbrook, Rui Hachimura, Daniel Gafford, Davis Bertans and Thomas Bryant. However he’ll want extra to compete with higher echelon groups within the East.

Unseld Sr., a five-time All-Star, received a title with the Washington Bullets in 1978, incomes Finals MVP. He was league MVP with the Baltimore Bullets in 1969. He averaged 10.8 factors and 14 rebounds in a 13-year profession, main the league in rebounds at 14.8 per recreation in 1974-75 and in area purpose proportion at .561 in 1975-76.

Story continues

Unseld Sr. coached Washington and was its normal supervisor. He died final 12 months after an extended battle with well being points.

The Wizards went by means of an in depth teaching search. Past Unseld’s teaching acumen, they like tying collectively the story of Unseld Jr. teaching the franchise Unseld Sr. performed for, coached and ran as a front-office govt.

Observe Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt.

This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: Wizards hiring Wes Unseld Jr., son of franchise nice, as head coach