Duke basketball assistant coach leaving Blue Devils staff for NBA coaching job
Amile Jefferson is leaving his alma mater to join the Boston Celtics coaching staff.
A former Duke player who coached on the Blue Devils’ staff with Jon Scheyer last season, Jefferson will become an assistant coach for Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, sources with direct knowledge of Jefferson’s plans said Thursday.
The move was first reported by 247sports.com.
The 30-year-old Jefferson played for coach Mike Krzyzewski at Duke from 2012-17 when he was team captain during three seasons, including the 2015 NCAA championship team. After a professional player career in the NBA, G League and in Turkey, Jefferson returned to Duke in summer 2021 as director of player development during Krzyzewski’s final season as Duke’s head coach.
Last summer, Jefferson was promoted to an assistant coach when Scheyer took over as head coach following Krzyzewski’s retirement.
In Boston, Jefferson will be reunited with his former Duke teammate, NBA All-Star forward Jayson Tatum. They played together during the 2016-17 season, helping the Blue Devils win the ACC championship.
Jefferson’s move to Boston is part an overhaul of the Celtics coaching staff. Since Boston was eliminated in a seven-game Eastern Conference finals series by Miami, the Celtics have hired 32-year-old Phil Pressey off the Missouri staff while also adding former Philadelphia 76ers assistant Sam Cassell and former Milwaukee Bucks assistant Charles Lee.
A Philadelphia native, Jefferson played five seasons at Duke, including the 2015-16 season when he was limited to nine games by a foot injury. He was named the Academic all-ACC team four times, making him the only Duke basketball player make that team four times.
He played 30 games in his NBA career, all with the Orlando Magic between 2018-2020. He spent 15 days in December 2020 with the Celtics but didn’t appear in a game. He completed his playing career in the Turkish Basketball Super League in 2020 and 2021 before returning to Duke.
His departure from Duke this summer comes as Scheyer is making other moves on his staff. The NCAA changed its rules to allow schools to add two additional assistant coaches to their staffs beginning July 1.
Will Avery, a former Duke player who completed his degree in May, is expected to be promoted to an assistant coach role. Avery returned to Duke in 2019 to work on his degree and helped the basketball staff in a non-coaching role.
Now Jefferson’s move means Scheyer has two more coaching staff openings to fill.
“I’m not set on filing every spot today,” Scheyer said Tuesday, prior to Jefferson’s move to the Celtics. “But I do want to look at every option. I think this is a special place. It takes someone very specific to Duke to bring them in, either one if they’re outside of the brotherhood family. Obviously, we have a lot of special people that are in the brotherhood right now. So we’ll take our time with that.”
This story was originally published June 21, 2023 at 1:08 PM with the headline "Duke basketball assistant coach leaving Blue Devils staff for NBA coaching job."