Warriors Rumors: Pacers Considering Mike Brown for Next Head Coach

The Indiana Pacers will reportedly interview Golden State Warriors assistant coach Mike Brown for their head coaching vacancy, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski on Saturday.

Indiana fired Nate McMillan after he spent four seasons at the helm on the heels of getting swept by the Miami Heat in the first-round of the playoffs. The Pacers reached the postseason in each of McMillan's four years, but they never won a series and got swept three times.

Brown has been an assistant under Steve Kerr in Golden State for the past four seasons, but he previously had stints as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers.

Brown first became an NBA head coach in 2005-06 with the Cavs and remained in that role through 2009-10. He later returned to coach the Cavaliers for one more season in 2013-14.

With LeBron James leading the way, Brown reached the playoffs in each of his first five seasons as a head coach. He won at least 50 games four times and at least 60 games twice during that run.

Brown and the Cavs reached the NBA Finals in 2007, but they were swept by the San Antonio Spurs largely because of a lack of supporting stars around LeBron.

When James left the Cavaliers for the Miami Heat at the conclusion of the 2009-10 season, Brown left as well. After taking one year off, Brown was hired by the Lakers as their head coach for the 2011-12 season, and there were huge expectations placed on his shoulders.

L.A. went 41-25 and reached the playoffs, but it was eliminated in the second round. The expectations grew for 2012-13, as the Lakers acquired center Dwight Howard and point guard Steve Nash to play alongside Kobe Bryant. After a 1-4 start to that season, however, Brown was fired.

Brown then coached Cleveland to a 33-49 record in 2013-14 before the Warriors hired him as an assistant in 2016.

The 50-year-old Brown won a pair of championships as part of Golden State's coaching staff, and he played a huge role in the Warriors winning the title in 2017, going 12-0 as acting head coach during the 2016-17 playoffs when Kerr was out because of back issues.

Brown has proved to be a quality head coach over the years with six playoff appearances and a career regular-season record of 347-216 (.616) to his credit.

The Pacers are a talented team led by Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis, Malcolm Brogdon, Myles Turner and T.J. Warren, but they have been unable to get over the hump against the Eastern Conference's elite teams.

With an experienced, winning coach such as Brown on the sidelines, however, perhaps Indiana could become a threat in the East.