Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Flip Saunders is not expected to return to the bench this season, according to Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
In an chat with readers on Thursday, Zgoda said, “There’s no question things have changed dramatically since the team announced his diagnosis in August, back when it quoted his doctors saying the cancer was very treatable and curable. Since then there have been changes to the way his body handled the chemotherapy (and maybe how much cancer they’ve found) that have made it life threatening. Everyone involved has gone radio silent because of the family’s request for privacy and federal patient-privacy laws, etc., but between the complete silence, the lack of people visiting as far as I can tell apart from his immediate family and very inner circle while he remains hospitalized here in Minneapolis and the things I’m hearing second-hand, well, none of it is good. I’ll just say this, and this is just my own opinion, if he pulls through this: I doubt very much he’s back this year, it’s probably unlikely he coaches again just because of the stress inherent doing both those jobs and I think there’s a pretty good chance he doesn’t return full time to either job.”
Saunders announced in August that he was taking a leave of absence after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and Sam Mitchell was named interim head coach in his absence.
Saunders began his NBA coaching career in 1995 with the Timberwolves, then coached in Detroit and Washington D.C., before returning to Minnesota in 2014. He is also the President of Basketball Operations for the team, a role that General Manager Milt Newton has been filling.
Saunders led the Timberwolves to their first ever playoff appearance in the 1996-1997 season, and then led the team to the Western Conference Finals in 2003-2004. The team has not made a playoff appearance since then.
After the Timberwolves fired him, he went to Detroit and led them to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2007-2008, but was fired after the series, in which the Pistons lost.
The Timberwolves have not commented on the latest reports.