NBA News Wire
NBA team pursuing Ollie
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
An undisclosed NBA team is pursuing University of Connecticut coach Kevin Ollie, who wants a deal larger than the one Steve Kerr got to coach the Golden State Warriors, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
Ollie, a former NBA point guard who guided UConn to the NCAA championship this year, reportedly wants more than five years and $25 million to make the coaching jump to the NBA.
According to multiple reports, the Los Angeles Lakers are not the team pursuing Ollie, though they have previously been rumored to be interested in him.
The Warriors named Kerr as their new coach earlier this week and gave him a five-year, $25 million deal, despite having no coaching experience. According to the Beacon Journal, Ollie wants more than that because of his experience and success coaching the Huskies.
The undisclosed NBA team has reportedly reached out to Ollie for an interview for its vacant head coaching job.
Ollie has said he wants to stay at UConn but also has interest in coaching in the NBA. He is in the process of renegotiating his contract at UConn, which runs through the 2017-18 season.
UConn’s contract offer, per season, is reportedly about twice the $1.25 million he made last season.
