Following an utterly listless performance by the Cleveland Cavaliers in their 120-88 loss to the Houston Rockets on Saturday night, some speculation about the status of Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue‘s coaching job was inevitable. However, any thought of the possibility of Lue being fired was squelched after the game.
Story filed to ESPN: Despite losing 12 of 18 games – including a 120-88 loss to Houston – Cleveland coach Ty Lue’s job is safe. “We are not firing our head coach,” one Cavaliers official told ESPN. Cavs will keep working to improve team prior to Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 4, 2018
Lue is in the second year of a five-year contract worth an estimated $7 million per season. He signed the deal during the summer of 2016, just after he helped lead the Cavaliers to the franchise’s first-ever title.
Besides the financial ramifications of dismissing Lue, the issue of having to hire the team’s fifth coach since 2010 would likely cause havoc at a time the team can least afford it.
Cleveland has struggled for the past six weeks, compiling a record of 7-13 during that time. Most notably, they’ve had an even worse record against the elite teams in the NBA this season. That’s an issue that could be very problematic come playoff time and put them in severe jeopardy of not competing in the finals for the first time since LeBron James returned to the team in 2014.
