Cavaliers Head Coach Rumors: Nuggets' Wes Unseld Jr. to Interview for Vacancy

The Cleveland Cavaliers were granted permission Thursday to interview Denver Nuggets assistant Wes Unseld Jr. for their head coaching vacancy, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. 

Unseld Jr., who is the son of Hall of Fame center Wes Unseld, has been an NBA assistant coach since joining the Washington Wizards in 2005. The Cavs have also requested permission to interview Nuggets assistant Jordi Fernandez, per ESPN's Zach Lowe.

The Cavs parted ways with interim head coach Larry Drew after he led them to a 19-57 record in 76 games this season. Overall, Cleveland went 19-63, which tied the Phoenix Suns for the NBA's second-worst mark.

Unseld Jr. was hired as an assistant in Denver prior to the 2015-16 season, and he was promoted to Mike Malone's lead assistant one year later.

Prior to his time with the Nuggets, Unseld Jr. was an assistant for the Wizards, Golden State Warriors and Orlando Magic.

In Denver, Unseld has helped the Nuggets develop into one of the NBA's best teams. After five straight seasons without a playoff appearance, Denver had the second-best record in the Western Conference this season at 54-28, and it is currently tied 1-1 in its second-round playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Unseld Jr. has a strong basketball background, as his father spent 13 seasons in the NBA with the Baltimore/Washington Bullets.

Unseld Sr. later served as the Bullets head coach from 1987 to 1994, going 202-345 with one playoff appearance. After that, Unseld became Washington's general manager in 1996 and served in the front office until 2003.

Unseld Jr. could follow in his father's footsteps as an NBA head coach, but he has some competition. Per Joe Vardon of The Athletic, former Memphis Grizzlies head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and Utah Jazz assistant coach Alex Jensen are set to interview for the vacancy.

The current Cavs are a far cry from the team led by LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love that won a championship three years ago, but with Love still in place, the emergence of 2018 first-round pick Collin Sexton and the possibility of drafting a stud like Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett or Ja Morant this year, the Cavaliers may not be too far away from returning to relevance.