Report: Nate McMillan, Pacers Agree to New Contract Ahead of 2020 NBA Playoffs

The Indiana Pacers and head coach Nate McMillan reportedly agreed to a contract extension in recent days, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

McMillan, who had one year remaining on his pact, has the Pacers in fifth place in the Eastern Conference at 43-28.

The Pacers have been one of the most impressive teams in the NBA bubble since the 2019-20 season resumed near Orlando, Florida, after a nearly five-month layoff because of the coronavirus pandemic.

McMillan has led Indiana to a 4-2 mark in the bubble, with two regular-season games remaining.

The 56-year-old McMillan is in his fourth season as head coach of the Pacers and has helped the team qualify for the playoffs in each of those years. Indiana has yet to win a playoff series under McMillan, however.

Little was expected from the Pacers when the NBA season restarted since All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis left the bubble to receive treatment for a foot injury and two-time All-Star guard Victor Oladipo still isn't 100 percent, as he continues to recover from a torn quad suffered last season.

Even so, the Pacers have played exceedingly well and even own a recent win over the Los Angeles Lakers, who are the top seed in the Western Conference.

The biggest reason for Indiana's bubble success has been T.J. Warren, who is averaging 31.0 points per game in the Pacers' six contests.

Before Indiana promoted McMillan from associate head coach to head coach in 2016, he spent five seasons as head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics and seven seasons as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers.

McMillan went 212-183 with two playoff appearances in Seattle and 266-269 with three playoff appearances in Portland. Overall, McMillan is 659-588 as an NBA head coach.

Although McMillan has led his teams to the playoffs on eight occasions before this season, he has only one playoff series win, which is likely the only thing that might have prevented the Pacers from signing him to an extension.

Indiana is facing a tough first-round series against a Miami Heat team that beat the Pacers 114-92 on Monday.

Indiana would likely be the underdogs in that series given the significant injury issues the team is dealing with, but the fact that McMillan still has the Pacers playing as well as they are despite the adversity speaks to his value.