Report: Sixers in talks with Mike D'Antoni for associate head-coach gig

The Philadelphia 76ers have reached out to former Phoenix Suns head coach Mike D'Antoni, Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski reports.

The proposed plan would see D'Antoni join head coach Brett Brown's staff as an associate head coach. Brown signed a two-year extension through the 2018-19 season earlier Friday.

D'Antoni shares a close relationship with newly hired Sixers chairman of basketball operations Jerry Colangelo, who was brought aboard earlier this week to correct the Sixers' aggressive rebuild that has drawn no shortage of bad press in recent weeks. D'Antoni and Colangelo spent years together in Phoenix during the famed "Seven Seconds or Less Era."

The goal for D'Antoni is to eventually recapture a head-coaching position in the NBA, Wojnarowski reports, but his name has soured after failed stints in New York and Los Angeles. D'Antoni most recently interviewed for the Denver Nuggets job, but that eventually went to Mike Malone.

As Wojnarowski writes, the idea would be for D'Antoni to raise his stock by serving as an assistant. The Sixers also happen to have an opening on the bench following the offseason departure of top assistant Chad Iske to the Sacramento Kings.

With a robust 455-426 record and a Coach of the Year award to his name, D'Antoni is certainly a well-known commodity around the league. His revolutionary offensive schemes have been adopted league-wide, and the Golden State Warriors most recently credited D'Antoni's influence following their championship victory in June.

D'Antoni last coached in the NBA as head coach of the Lakers. He resigned from his post following a disastrous 27-win campaign in 2014-15.