Brian Keefe, who previously served as the interim head coach of the Washington Wizards last season, has officially been named the team’s full-time head coach. Keefe began his coaching career as a college assistant and has since worked as an NBA assistant with various teams, including the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets and the Wizards. Prior to his time as Washington’s interim coach, he was an assistant under former head coach Wes Unseld Jr., who was later relieved of his duties and moved into a front-office role in January before joining the Chicago Bulls as an assistant.
Under Keefe’s leadership, the Wizards finished the season with an 8-31 record, which was an improvement over Unseld’s 7-36 mark at the start of the season. The team is currently in the early stages of a rebuild, with rookie lottery pick Bilal Coulibaly showing promise. With Wizards president Michael Winger at the helm, the team started this rebuild last season with trades involving Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis. The team is focused on building a roster of long-term cornerstones and developing young talent such as Coulibaly. While meaningful winning may still be years away, the Wizards are laying the foundation for future success with each decision they make. For more in-depth coverage of basketball news and analysis tune into Beyond The Arc podcast hosted by John Gonzalez, Bill Reiter, Ashley Nicole Moss and special guests where they discuss league’s biggest storylines on a daily basis.