Will Dunn entered the Houston Rockets organization in 2019 as a basketball-operations hire under Mike D’Antoni. When D’Antoni departed, Stephen Silas promoted him to a full-time assistant role, giving Dunn a front-court seat on the coaching staff early in his career. His tenure survived a regime change three years ago, when the team shifted direction and he faced the prospect of moving to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the club’s G League affiliate.
When Ime Udoka assumed control ahead of the 2023-24 season, he announced plans to bring in his own assistants, which meant Dunn was slated to transition to the G League. Rather than accept a demotion, Dunn leveraged his experience as the head video coordinator and stayed on the NBA staff, a move Udoka later credited as valuable while assembling a new video room. This decision highlighted Dunn’s adaptability and the trust he had built with the organization.
Dunn described the staff turnover as a “gut check, a character check,” noting that many coaches either retreat or scramble to prove themselves. He chose a different path, focusing on relationship-building. “At the very least, somebody might call them in a couple of years and be like, ‘Hey, you were around Will Dunn for a couple months in Houston. How is he?’” he recalled, adding that he wanted to look back five or six years later and be proud of how he handled the situation. This long-term mindset proved crucial as he navigated the shifting landscape of the Rockets’ coaching staff.
A strategic link between Udoka and Dunn emerged early on. Udoka’s defensive philosophy in Boston relied on positioning a shot-blocking center on the opponent’s weakest shooter, allowing the big man to protect the rim while the perimeter players switched. Dunn remembered telling Udoka that he loved the concept and wanted to apply it with Rockets center Alperen Şengün, the Turkish prospect. Their shared vision for using Şengün as a defensive anchor in a switching scheme reinforced Dunn’s role as a bridge between coaching ideas and player development.
That summer, Houston named the 32-year-old as head coach of its Summer League squad. Dunn guided the team to a 3-2 record and a berth in the semifinals in Las Vegas, providing a concrete metric of his coaching impact and reinforcing his place on Udoka’s staff for a fourth consecutive year. His ability to survive two regime changes and remain a constant on a roster that has seen frequent turnover offers the Rockets a steady hand in integrating new video technology, developing young talent, and reinforcing the defensive concepts that Udoka values. In a franchise still shaping its identity, Dunn’s behind-the-scenes work may prove as vital as any headline-grabbing acquisition.
