Wizards plan to keep Brian Keefe as head coach for 2026-27
wizards-plan-to-keep-brian-keefe-as-head-coach-2026-27
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Washington Wizards general manager Will Dawkins said Thursday he expects Brian Keefe to remain the team’s head coach for the 2026-27 NBA season.
“I anticipate Brian to be here,” Dawkins told reporters during his end-of-season news conference.
Keefe, 50, has led one of the league’s youngest rosters since taking over for Wes Unseld Jr. in January 2024. Over two-plus seasons, his record stands at 43-160 while overseeing the development of recent first-round picks Alex Sarr, Tre Johnson, Bub Carrington, Bilal Coulibaly, Will Riley and Kyshawn George.
This season, Washington made two high-profile trades near the deadline, acquiring All-Stars Trae Young from the Atlanta Hawks and Anthony Davis from the Dallas Mavericks. Young appeared in five games before being sidelined with right quadriceps and back irritation. Davis did not play because of a sprained finger on his non-shooting hand but said Monday he is committed to the Wizards for at least next season, noting, “I love my money.”
At 17-65, the Wizards finished with the NBA’s worst record and share a 14% chance of landing the No. 1 pick in a draft widely viewed as talent-rich; they cannot fall lower than No. 5.
“We put him in a situation this season which was a little difficult when you just think about the amount of youth [and] the amount of change that we had,” Dawkins said of Keefe’s performance.
Before his promotion in Washington, Keefe spent more than a decade as an assistant with the Seattle SuperSonics, Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets and the Wizards.
Source: ESPN.com
