Vincent GoodwillNov 11, 2026, 07:00 AM ETMultiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsDETROIT PISTONS COACH J.B. Bickerstaff and then-Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley broke the ice after nearly two weeks of silence: a simple bro hug at midcourt before their teams played Game 7 of last season’s first-round series.More than a series was on the line — jobs have been decided in these situations, and that series was no different. Regardless, the two consider themselves brothers.”We didn’t make eye contact during the series,” Bickerstaff said. “I knew the outcome of that series — we played two years before when I was in Cleveland — if I would’ve lost to Jamahl, I would’ve been fired.
I knew if Jamahl didn’t beat us [last season], he was going to be fired.”Coaching those games was extremely emotional, and them both coming down to Game 7s adds more weight to those moments. I know the impact that it has on you, your wife in that moment. His kids call me Uncle.”Several coaches closely watched the matchup. They are part of an 11-member group chat featuring Black NBA head coaches and assistants who have been friends for years.”For us, it was fun,” Indiana Pacers associate head coach Lloyd Pierce said.
“It was Game 7. You don’t have to put that face on anymore for your players. They knew. This is results oriented.
Someone’s going home, someone ain’t. But it’s all love. They had to be professionals, but it was a beautiful moment for our group.”Pierce and Washington Wizards assistant David Vanterpool couldn’t wait to show the video of the two close friends’ hug before the game at their annual “wine and conversation” event that takes place during summer league. It exemplified the community they have striven to create: two fierce competitors in their natural element who, behind the scenes, are friends in any other group chat, commiserating over shared experiences and struggles, talking about issues of the world in a space where they knew it would stay without judgment.And doing so with the only men who can identify with what they are going through: each other.There are nine Black head coaches in the NBA — three fewer than last season with Jason Kidd, Chauncey Billups and Doc Rivers no longer with their franchises.
When Kidd and Boston’s Joe Mazzulla met in the 2024 NBA Finals, it was the first time two Black coaches faced each other in the Finals since 1975, when Al Attles’ Golden State Warriors swept K.C. Jones’ Washington Bullets. It’s been cyclical, but the NBA had recently reached a high mark for Black coaches. There were 15 in 2022-23 and 14 the following season.
In the 2019-20 season, that number was just seven.This collective, which as a group chat has expanded into other events, has become an outlet to discuss opportunities that have come and ones that haven’t. But it has also expanded into a network of support and connections that extends far beyond the court. The connections are so intertwined — coaches who have served under one another and been introduced through members of the group chat — it’s almost too many to name.”It’s the most important thing we have in this business,” Bickerstaff said. “Like nothing gets done in the NBA without connections and community.
So like us being able to build a community has changed the outlook and the window of opportunity for people.”Hours after Bickerstaff and Mosley embraced ahead of their Game 7 meeting, the top-seeded Pistons beat the eighth-seeded Magic, completing a comeback from being down 3-1 in the series. Shortly after, Bickerstaff’s thoughts drifted to Mosley and his future.”You’re extremely excited about what’s next for you, and you have to prepare for that,” Bickerstaff said. “But you’re also walking around with the weight of what happens to someone you care about.”Mosley was fired 24 hours later. Two weeks later, the New Orleans Pelicans hired him.
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