The Portland Trail Blazers have rewarded head coach Terry Stotts with a new contract after he led the team to an appearance in the Western Conference Finals.
Per Joe Freeman of The Oregonian, Blazers general manager Neil Olshey announced an agreement with Stotts on Tuesday.
Stotts would have been entering the final season of a four-year deal he signed in May 2016 that paid him an average salary of $5 million.
There were questions coming into the 2018-19 campaign about Stotts’ long-term future in Portland. Mitch Lawrence of Sporting News reported last year that team owner Paul Allen, who died in October at the age of 65, turned down his coach’s request for a new contract.
The team was swept by the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round last year after entering the playoffs as the No. 3 seed.
Olshey told reporters Tuesday that the Blazers’ first-round series win over the Oklahoma City Thunder “proved that last year’s playoffs were the fluke, not last year’s regular season.”
Stotts has compiled a 325-249 record with six playoff appearances in seven seasons with the Blazers. Jack Ramsay is the only coach in franchise history with more career wins (453) than the 61-year-old.
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
