5 Shortest Coaching Stints in NBA History

#4 Gar Heard with the Washington Wizards (44 games)

Gar

Head's time at Washington was a short one

Gar Heard was hired as the Wizards' head coach on June 17th, 1999 by General Manager Wes Unseld. Washington, as had long been the case for them, stayed at the bottom of the barrel in the Eastern Conference even under the new head coach, although there were signs that Heard would, at some point, be able to turn things around.

All of those hopes were put paid when midway through the season, Michael Jordan decided to assume the responsibility of President of Basketball Operations for the franchise. As a part-owner, he would only be answerable to the majority owner Abe Pollin. MJ signed a 5-year contract at the time and was committed to making the Wizards great again.

Among his first moves as the team president was the firing of the incumbent head coach - within a span of 2 weeks. The Wizards were already at a dismal 14-30 by that point, but the last game they played before Heard's firing was a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers (themselves a bottom club) and had little hopes of making the playoffs.