J.B. Bickerstaff Agrees to Reported 4-Year Contract as Cavaliers Head Coach

An encouraging 10-game start to his tenure with the Cleveland Cavaliers has officially landed head coach J.B. Bickerstaff a contract extension. 

The Athletic's Kelsey Russo was the first to report that Bickerstaff and the Cavs had agreed to a multiyear deal. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported the contract is for four years and will run through the 2023-24 season. 

The 41-year-old began this season with the Cavaliers as an associate head coach on John Beilein's staff. He spent the previous two years as head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies but was fired after a 33-49 record in 2018-19. 

When Beilein resigned as Cleveland's head coach on Feb. 19, the team promoted Bickerstaff to take over on a full-time basis. 

The Athletic's Shams Charania, Jason Lloyd and Joe Vardon reported after Beilein's resignation that Cavs players "began tuning Beilein out" during training camp and he had "shown no consistency in relating to players or in building lasting relationships with them."

One unnamed Cavaliers player told Cleveland.com's Chris Fedor the change has been "night and day" going from Beilein to Bickerstaff: "[Beilein] didn't know how to talk to people. He couldn't communicate."

After going 14-40 under Beilein, the Cavaliers have been a respectable 5-5 in 10 games with Bickerstaff at the helm.