Brad Stevens is no longer the youngest in charge.
Stevens turns 40 in October.
With the Cleveland Cavaliers making an in-season change, parting ways with David Blatt after a season and a half, Tyronn Lue is now the youngest active full-time head coach in the NBA.
Lue, who was highest-paid assistant in the league while on Blatt’s staff, was promoted up a seat on the Cavaliers’ bench Friday after team officials and the players were not encouraged or pleased with how Blatt was running the team.
Exactly halfway through the season, at 30-11, they have had control of the Eastern Conference since the 2015-16 season tipped and are coming off an NBA Finals appearance in their first year together.
From June, 2014: Vogel rounds out top five youngest NBA head coaches
Now Lue, thought of highly for his knowledge of the game and an ability to connect with players, is the youngest active head coach at 38-years-old. He’s just over six months younger — 194 days, to be exact — than Stevens, who had held that title since he the Celtics hired him away from Butler in 2013.
Stevens, the former Butler basketball coach and a Zionsville, Ind. native, turns 40 in October.
Lue, meantime, graduated from Nebraska (1995-98) and then spent 11 seasons in The Association as a journeyman — with stints with the Lakers, Wizards, Magic, Rockets, Hawks, Mavericks, and Bucks.
Houston Rockets head coach J.B. Bickerstaff is currently the youngest coach in the league (36), but he’s just the lead man on an interim basis. After the Rockets were not pleased with the team’s 4-7 start, they moved on from Kevin McHale after 323 games (four seasons plus eleven games).