'Elite in all aspects': Austin Spurs hire Aussie Jacob Chance as head coach

Jacob Chance - widely regarded as one of Australian basketball's best young coaches - is stepping foot into the NBA ecosystem, signing on as the new head coach of the Austin Spurs.

It's the next phase of a coaching career for the 31-year-old that's featured being a prominent assistant on multiple NBL teams under prominent head coaches - winning four championships - as well as becoming a mainstay within the Australian national team program.

The move will see Chance leave Melbourne United to join the San Antonio Spurs' NBA G-League affiliate, following in the footsteps of a heap of Australian coaches before him that used a similar opportunity to propel their respective careers forward.

"It's something I hadn't thought about a lot before these last 12 months," Chance told ESPN, on the opportunity to be a head coach in the G-League.

"I started to get a bit of interest and have some conversations. I think the challenge of the G-League and what that brings; it's a high-quality league; it's obviously come a long way... in how it's resourced and treated, and the Spurs treat their G-League team with a lot of respect and a lot of resources.

"The challenge of the uncertainty it brings, and the logistics you have to face throughout the course of the season, and working with elite players who are ultimately trying to get into the NBA. That player development space really excites me. To go and work with the Spurs, who have proven that pathway's real for them, and they take it really seriously, was obviously a massive part of that too."

Chance first spoke with the Austin Spurs' general manager Josh Larson during this year's NBA Summer League. He went through the interview process, before ultimately being offered the head coach position.

After careful consideration alongside his partner Bree, he took the job with a Spurs franchise that already features Australia's Matt Nielsen, who's currently an assistant for the NBA team and was the head coach of the Austin Spurs back in 2020. It will be a reunion for the pair, who worked together in the past with the Perth Wildcats and the Boomers program.

"To go back and work with Matty, who essentially got me into the industry... in 2015, to come full circle and be back with him and hopefully be around him in this first little bit of time with the Spurs, it was hard to say no to," Chance said. "He's a good friend, a big-time mentor, and excited to get to work with him again."

Of course, Chance has worked under a plethora of established and decorated head coaches over his time in the NBL and the national team program.

With the Wildcats, he was under five-time NBL champion Trevor Gleeson, winning four titles in the process; beginning his time with the franchise as a video coach before elevating to an assistant. He then moved to the Tasmania JackJumpers as an associate head coach under Scott Roth, before heading north to Melbourne to join Dean Vickerman's staff at United.

Chance has also spent time with the Australian men's national team; he was appointed as an analyst and assistant coach under Brian Goorjian for the program's 2024 Paris Olympics campaign.

"I couldn't even put into words what all of them have meant for my career," Chance said.

"I think the common trait is that every good leader, coach, captain, the thing I've taken away the most is just their ability to be the best version of themselves. That looks different for all of them. In professional sports, the biggest challenge has been trying to stay true to that when the external stuff comes.

"You talk about Scott, Deano, Trev, Goorj... I've been so lucky to work with all four of them. They don't go away from that when the three losses in a row comes, or the difficult moments within the season or within clubland come, or you're at an Olympics and you've lost a game. They stay true to who they are, they know who they are and, as a young coach, I've got a long way to go in that space, of really knowing what I believe in, because I've had all these great ideas and I've got to work through them.

"For me, that's like my [version of a] playing career. Dave Barlow's played all over the world and now he's in his early 40s and he's had that experience playing for different coaches. That's kind of my playing career: it was working for different coaches and working with their system."

Chance is a unique figure in Australian basketball, as someone so young who's already been able to garner immense respect from established coaches, players, and peers. It's why, at the age of 30, Goorjian added him to the coaching staff for the Australian Boomers for the Paris Olympics; he then earned the opportunity to be the head coach of the national team during a qualifying window in February.

"All the way through, it was even more than I imagined," Goorjian told ESPN, on Chance's time with the Boomers.

"He's just elite in all aspects, the film aspect of it, on the floor with the individuals, understanding offensive and defensive schemes. Just an unbelievable feel for that.

"He had a unique ability to get players to buy in. You had guys like Joe Ingles and Patty Mills - two guys he didn't have a background with - and he did a great job of being really good on his feet and building those relationships, and had good feel about what to say, when to go there, and when to back off. Those seniors guys are not gonna come near you if you're not competent. They were attracted to him.

"As I walked away from the Boomers, my advice to Basketball Australia for the window stuff is that Chancey can do this; you're identifying something that's really talented, and you're gonna get rewarded for it. I've been around; I think the world of him."

A constant you'll hear from players across the spectrum within Australian basketball is that Chance has an impressive balance of being approachable and affable, but whose basketball guidance is also immensely respected.

"He doesn't waste words," one national team player told ESPN.

Nick Kay - a two-time Olympian - was quick to note the growth in Chance's coaching style and demeanour over the years.

"When he was young, he didn't have that balance that he needed but, as time's gone on, that transition, you see it... like, sh-t, this guy's gonna be so good," Kay, who's played under Chance at the Wildcats and within the Boomers program, told ESPN.

"I'm surprised he hadn't gotten a head coaching job over the last two or three years. He's deserved it for a while now.

"I find his ability to mix being your mate but also your coach really elite, and his development from being a young guy to where he's at now. He's transitioned so well from having respect from being a great guy, but also, you hit the floor and he's like, no, this is what's going on and how we're doing it. He demands the best from you, but does it in a way that commands respect."

It's a trait that Vickerman saw in Chance as soon as he arrived in Melbourne.

"I thought he did a great job, when he came in, to really ask questions of everybody, and really get a good feel, and not just throw what he knows out there straight away," Vickerman told ESPN.

"He really absorbed himself well into the staff. Because he's meticulous, because he's always got improvements, people are drawn to him; like, hey, I wanna show you this bit of film, what do you think? He involves everybody really well. He has this elite quality of work ethic, and this want to get better. And then, he has this great connection to both players and staff."

With Chance joining the Spurs, his position with United is set to be filled by former JackJumpers assistant Jack Fleming, who won a title in Tasmania in 2024.

Chance's move to the G-League sees him join the growing line of Australians or former NBL coaches to use the NBA's developmental league as a stepping stone in their careers.

The likes of Damian Cotter, Adam Caporn, Will Weaver, and Nielsen all went through the G-League pathway, and leveraged that into jobs on NBA benches. So, while the pathway up the coaching chain isn't defined or linear, there's reason to believe this move can springboard Chance's career.