3 NBA coaches who could be on the hot seat in the 2021-22 NBA season

#2 Billy Donovan

San Antonio Spurs v Chicago Bulls

This is the first NBA season in some time that the Chicago Bulls are carrying high expectations coming into the year. Nikola Vucevic's full year, combined with the additions of DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso, has understandably made anything but the playoffs a failure this upcoming season.

It's a daunting task to idealize a roster with this much turnover and overlapping skillsets. Billy Donovan has a lot ahead of him this NBA season, and feels like the first person to have fingers pointed towards him if the results are underwhelming.

With the aforementioned significant roster turnover and assumed improvement, the front office will likely look toward the coaching staff before feeling a need to make more player-based changes.

Throughout his five seasons as an NBA head coach, Billy Donovan possessed a winning percentage of 58.1. While he has had some impressive years, primarily leading the Chris Paul, Dennis Schroder and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Oklahoma City Thunder to the playoffs, the jury is still out on Donovan as a head coach.

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#1 Luke Walton

Sacramento Kings v New Orleans Pelicans

Luke Walton had LeBron James on his NBA roster with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018-19 and still missed the postseason. Nearly every young player who left Luke Walton during his time with the Lakers notably improved after.

It may have just been their natural development arch, but the names include Julius Randle, Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, and Jordan Clarkson. The real issue is that it's difficult to point to any one player that Luke Walton has optimized during his five years as a NBA head coach.

Sacramento's Buddy Hield thrived under Dave Joerger and has slumped since Walton's arrival with the Kings. Many expected the Kings to move on from Luke Walton this offseason after posting the worst defensive rating of all-time, but the organization opted to remain with him going into the 2021-22 NBA season.

Walton is noted as a "player-coach" and is well liked by seemingly every player on Sacramento's roster. Let's not forget that Stephen Curry publicly advocated for Mark Jackson and Giannis Antetokounmpo did the same for Jason Kidd. Look at how those coaching changes catapulted their careers and team success.

Luke Walton has a win percentage of 41 throughout his five seasons as an NBA head coach. If the Sacramento Kings struggle as they did last season, don't be surprised to see Walton replaced mid-season.