The New Orleans Pelicans' head coaching search has reached the finalist stage, and conflicting reports out of Wednesday and Thursday have given the city's basketball fan base whiplash. Sam Amick of The Athletic on Tuesday narrowed the list to four candidates, while Pelicans beat reporter Shamit Dua of WDSU told fans the team is still actively considering five names.
"As for the league's other coaching vacancy, New Orleans has been deliberating over finalists Darvin Ham, who is a Bucks associate coach, Steve Hetzel, who is the Brooklyn assistant, Sean Sweeney of the San Antonio Spurs, who's an associate head coach, and of course Rajon Rondo, coaching assistant with the Bucks," Pelicans Digest host Mel of NYC summarized off Amick's report.
By Thursday afternoon the picture had tilted again. The Athletic and Yahoo's Jake Fischer reported that Ham and Hetzel had emerged as the front-runners, with no mention of Rondo and Sweeney's name suddenly attached to the Orlando Magic and Chicago Bulls openings instead.
"Jake Fischer is reporting today that Darvin Ham and Steve Hetzel are now the front-runners for the Pelicans head coaching job but makes no mention of Rajon Rondo, which is surely going to piss fans off," Mel noted in a Thursday update.
Dua disputed the framing entirely. The reporter, who covers the Pelicans front office daily, posted that there had been "no real updates" on the search and that the five names under consideration remained interim head coach James Borrego, Ham, Hetzel, recently fired Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley and Rondo. Sweeney, by Dua's account, was no longer a New Orleans target.
The fan-base sentiment is overwhelmingly behind Rondo. The 2008 NBA champion has spent the season as a coaching assistant in Milwaukee, learning under Doc Rivers, and Pelicans Digest argued the front office must find a way to integrate him regardless of who lands the head job.
"Even if you don't hire Rondo as a head coach, you got to find a way to get him on the staff somehow," Mel said. "You have got to get him on the staff somehow, whether it's an associate head coach or not, to let him build with them rookies, especially that player development department."
Ham brings a recent head-coaching résumé from the Lakers and a season under Doc Rivers as the Bucks' associate head coach. On the Draymond Green Show, the Warriors veteran threw his support behind Ham and Rondo for different reasons.
"I think Darvin's going to bring having head coach experience already, coaching a guy like LeBron, coaching a guy like Giannis," Green said. "When you look at like a Zion Williamson, a Derek Queen, especially Zion, I think he can use some of that experience in coaching guys like that to help out Zion."
Hetzel's stock has surged the most over the last week. The Brooklyn assistant is highly regarded league-wide as an offensive system designer, and Pelicans Digest pointed to his ability to install schemes for young rosters as a key reason he is now in the conversation.
The pressure on whomever lands the job is significant. Borrego won 70-plus games as the interim and has front-office advocates, but the Pelicans need a long-term answer that can develop Zion Williamson, Derek Queen, the team's young guards and the franchise's lottery-bound draft pick. Pelicans governor Gayle Benson has reportedly told insiders the team is willing to take its time to make the right call.
"There has to be a transition period for me," is how Pelicans Digest framed the calculation, echoing the patience the team's front office has signaled. "And I'm going to get to know everybody."
The other open job watched closely in New Orleans is the Magic position. Mosley's firing complicated the search by adding a sixth qualified candidate to the broader market, and the Pelicans must make a decision before Orlando, Chicago and Portland thin out the field of assistants league-wide. With the draft lottery on Sunday and free agency just over the horizon, executives expect a hire within the next 10 days.
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*Originally published on [NBA News Global](https://nbanews.global/article/pelicans-coach-search-finalists-darvin-ham-rondo-hetzel-borrego-may-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
