How former Sonics coach Nate McMillan's career got an assist from his son

LOS ANGELES — About 90 minutes before tipoff, Dalton Knecht approached the assistant coach sitting on the bench of the Los Angeles Lakers. The coach who once played menacing defense on the court and later strode the sideline with a steely stare, now seems more relaxed as the gray and white specks have shown up in his goatee.

“What up O.G.!?” Knecht enthusiastically said to the coach, briefly interrupting the conversation.

Nate McMillan smiled and slapped hands with the Lakers rookie.

“A lot of the guys that are on the team, those guys weren’t even born when I was playing. … We have to tell them to go back to classic sports and all of that,” McMillan says, finishing his thought.

More than 25 years have passed since McMillan last wore the jersey of the Seattle SuperSonics. This season marks 20 years since the last time he was associated with the Sonics — his final year as head coach.

While the moniker may not land the same way it once did thanks to the separation of time and circumstance, those who know still remember, “Mr. Sonic.”

“What it says to me is I’m getting old, man. Because time just flies,” McMillan said. “That was a moment in my life — a special moment. Both my kids born and raised there, went to high school, graduated from high school. It has just been a major part of my life. To be gone 20 years makes me feel even older.”

This is not only a story about Nate McMillan and where he sits today on the bench of one of the most storied franchises in sports as a 60-year-old assistant coach for the Lakers. It’s a story about connections and networking. A story about good fortune that sometimes comes with longevity.

And it’s a story about the next generation and how another McMillan — Nate’s son Jamelle — is in the coaching pipeline with his own Seattle ties.

Becoming Mr. Sonic

It’s approaching 40 years since Nate McMillan introduced himself to the Emerald City, which is sobering that much time has passed since the 6-foot-5 guard from North Carolina State arrived in 1986 as a second-round pick of the SuperSonics.

There are seminal figures in the history of Seattle sports who arrived from elsewhere and become forever forged to the area because of a combination of factors — longevity, loyalty, success and humility. They were good, sometimes spectacular players. They were at times the face of their organizations. And they stayed loyal to one city, one team.

Edgar Martinez was one of those. Sue Bird was another. Steve Largent. Walter Jones.

And Nate.

“Deservedly, the name ‘Mr. Sonic,’ ” said Bob Whitsitt, the general manager who drafted McMillan. “He was more of a lunch-pail guy.”

For those who don’t remember, McMillan spent all 12 seasons of his career as a player with the Sonics. He never averaged more than 7.6 points per game in any season. Only once was he a full-time starter, which came in his second year. Mostly, he came off the bench, especially after another point guard — a guy named Gary Payton — arrived in 1990.

He never scored more than 24 points in any game of his career, yet had 25 assists in a game in his rookie season — tied for fifth-most ever in a game.

What McMillan maybe lacked in stats he made up for in other ways. He was a fearsome defender with the ability to lock down smaller, quicker guards or bigger wings. Many have expressed that if McMillan had been healthy during the 1996 NBA Finals, the outcome may have been different.

As most point guards, he was a coach on the floor. George Karl rarely had to call plays when McMillan was in the game. The two were on the same wavelength on what needed to be run.

That relationship also laid the foundation for McMillan’s coaching career that began as a Sonics assistant in 1999 before taking the head job early in the 2000-01 season.

“He probably was the guy that I enjoyed playing for the most, because he didn’t have any restrictions on my play. And he allowed us to play,” McMillan said. “He demanded and challenged us to play hard and to do all the things that I believed in, so it was easy to play for him. It was easy to relate to him. I kind of felt like I was an extension of him out on the floor, because I knew what he wanted and what he wanted was what I felt that needed to happen on the floor.”

Showtime Nate

McMillan’s current role as an assistant for the Lakers is thanks largely Jamelle. And that’s where this story goes a couple different paths.

Nate was fired in Atlanta during the 2022-23 season and spent last season without a job on an NBA bench. He believed he was done without firm plans for his coaching future.

The late nights. The road trips. The hours poring over film and scouting reports. No longer having to deal with media criticism or constant analysis.

It was time to be a grandfather.

Then the phone buzzed. Not Nate’s. It was Jamelle’s with a text notification while he happened to be on the phone with his pops. The text was from JJ Reddick, the new coach of the Lakers who played in New Orleans during the time Jamelle worked for the Pelicans.

“First, he asked me, ‘Would your dad come coach the Lakers?’ ” Jamelle recalled.

That led to a brief back-and-forth between father and son over speaker phone.

“I said, ‘Get off the phone with me. I have nothing else to say to you. Bye. Call him back.’ I hung up the phone. I text him (Reddick’s) number. Not even 20 minutes later, it was done. He called me back and was like, ‘I’m coaching the Lakers,’ ” Jamelle said.

McMillan mostly watches and observes in his role with the Lakers. During a game last month against the Nuggets, the only times he rose from the bench were during timeouts. Stalking up and down the sideline is reserved for Reddick, now.

Jamelle thinks the situation is perfect for his dad. He gets to work for one of the benchmark franchises with two of the elite players in the league and with expectations of success but without all that resting on his shoulders.

“I’m really, really glad that JJ has given him the opportunity to come assist, be an assistant in this new NBA, and learn how to talk to these guys and learn what makes them tick and all that,” Jamelle said. “It’s just a different communication style he hasn’t really had majority of his career. He’s always the hammer. So he’s loving it. He’s having a good time.”

The next generation

That’s where this tale could end, but it doesn’t because of what the future could hold for the other McMillan name in NBA coaching circles. Jamelle is in his second season as the head coach of the Motor City Cruise — the Pistons affiliate in the NBA G League. He’s worked as an assistant in the NBA for three different teams, including a stint as on the bench for his dad in Atlanta.

Jamelle never wanted his last name to be what opened doors for him in the league, but he did relish the chance to finally work alongside his dad.

“I knew I had to figure out a way to be my own person within the ranks of this and in what capacity could that kind of translate,” Jamelle said. “It was also a thing for him where he didn’t want me feeling like I was forced into this sport, into the lifestyle, into this deal. If you choose to, great. If we happen to meet each other later in some capacity, awesome. But go do your own thing. Be your own man, and get your own philosophy, get your own mind. That was huge for him.”

Jamelle, who was a star at O’Dea High, winning three state titles, before playing collegiately at Arizona State alongside James Harden, is all-in on the coaching lifestyle. His role in the G League is developing players in Detroit’s system so they can contribute when called up to the Pistons, while also trying to find success along the way.

It’s challenging and rewarding all the same.

“There’s the grind, but there’s a connection, there’s a communication style, there’s so many elements to this,” Jamelle said. “You find reward on a day-to-day basis to be able to help and try to influence young people, to get young guys to understand how to be pros, to be able to work with an extremely diverse people from all over the place all the time, and have to manage and answer their questions all the time. The challenge never stops.”

Then there’s Seattle and the continued expectation of the NBA returning at some point in the next few years. Both hear the rumors. Both answer questions of what it was once like. Both are ready for the ‘what if’ or ‘what was it like’ questions to stop.

“It shouldn’t have happened. It did. I think the NBA understands that is a city that is deserving,” Nate says.

Jamelle is even more effusive in what is expected to come.

“It’s here, it’s ready to go. We’ll be back here very soon. I believe that,” Jamelle said. “I don’t know who’s got the money. I don’t. But somebody does, and I know there’s a lot of people pulling for this. A whole lot of people.”