The Indiana Pacers announced Monday they have named Nate McMillan as their head coach. Per club policy terms of the contract were not released.
McMillan has spent the last three seasons as Associate Head Coach for the Pacers under Frank Vogel.
"I truly believe Nate is the right coach for us at this time," said Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird.
The 51-year-old (8/3/64) McMillan has a vast basketball background as a player and a coach. After playing collegiately at North Carolina State, McMillan was drafted by Seattle (30th overall) in the 1986 NBA Draft. He played his entire 12-year career with the Sonics and had his number (10) retired.
He is second in franchise history in assists and steals and ranks in the top 10 in eight other categories. He was named to the NBA’s All-Defensive team twice (1994 and '95) and led the league in steals in the 94-95 season with 2.96 per game.
After his playing days, McMillan was a Seattle assistant coach for two years and became the interim coach in 2000. He remained the Sonics' coach until 2005 and then became Portland's head coach until he was let go in March, 2012.
In 2008-09, he led the Trail Blazers to a 54-28 record, the sixth-best record in franchise history. McMillan compiled a 478-452 (.514) record as a head coach for both teams.