Utah Jazz to interview Mavericks assistant Sean Sweeney, Jason Terry for head coach vacancy

The Utah Jazz are potentially interested in a pair of Mavericks for its head coaching job — the Jazz requested permission to interview current Mavericks assistant coach Sean Sweeney and also plan to interview Mavericks legend Jason Terry, according to reports.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the Sweeney news while DallasBasketball.com’s Mike Fisher had the Terry news. Sweeney previous interviewed for the Charlotte Hornets job this offseason.

Neither Sweeney nor Terry have been head coaches in the NBA. Sweeney has been an assistant coach since 2013, spending five seasons total with Jason Kidd with four in Milwaukee and now one season in Dallas. Terry started his coaching career in 2019 by coaching the Mavericks G-League affiliate the Texas Legends before moving on as an assistant coach at the University of Arizona. Terry currently is the head coach of the Denver Nuggets G-League affiliate the Grand Rapids Gold.

It’s no surprise after the Mavericks stunning Western Conference Finals run that NBA teams are noticing the superb job of the Mavericks coaching staff. Assistant Igor Kokoskov has already been poached by Brooklyn and it’ll be no shock if Sweeney finds himself a head coaching job soon, if not this summer. Sweeney was the Mavericks “defensive coordinator” and he deserves a lot of credit for transforming what used to be a below-average defensive squad into a top-10 unit in 2022.

If you’re a Mavericks fan, no need to panic. After the Mavericks 2011 title run, assistants Terry Stotts and Dwane Casey found head coaching jobs that summer. Just about every successful NBA team has assistant coaches leave for promotions in other organizations — that’s just how the wheel turns around the league. Jason Kidd proved himself in his first season leading Dallas, so benefit of the doubt must be given as he potentially rebuilds his staff before next season.