The Warriors are going for their third consecutive NBA championship. A former member of the franchise, who never experienced anywhere close to that degree of team success with Golden State, might be on his way back to the league the Dubs have been dominating the last handful of years.
Sarunas Jasikevicius.
Yeah, remember him? According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst, the Memphis Grizzlies are reportedly considering making Jasikevicius their next head coach.
Jasikevicius spent part of one season with the Warriors, appearing in 26 regular-season and four playoff games during the famed 'We Believe' 2006-07 campaign after an illustrious career in Europe. The Lithuanian guard came to Golden State in the same trade with the Pacers that netted the Warriors Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington and Josh Powell.
He returned to Europe the following season, and played there until formally retiring in July of 2013 as a member of Zalgiris in Lithuania, at which time he joined the coaching staff. Jasikevicius has remained on that staff ever since, and was named the head coach in January of 2016.
Ever since, Jasikevicius has developed a reputation as a bonafide NBA head-coaching candidate, "known for a strong-willed leadership style and teams that exhibit elite ball movement and offensive execution." He previously interviewed with Toronto general manager Masai Ujiri for the Raptors' head-coaching job last year, and it appears he's still on at least one other franchise's radar.
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We're used to seeing current Golden State assistants mentioned in the running for vacant head coach openings. Perhaps Jasikevicius can add a little more Warriors flavor to the NBA coaching ranks, as well.
