Former Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Jim Boylan filed a lawsuit Thursday against the team alleging age discrimination after his option wasn’t picked up for this season.
In the lawsuit Boylan, 63, provides a transcript of a voicemail left by former head coach Tyronn Lue from last June informing him the team was moving in a different direction. According to the transcription, Cavs general manager Koby Altman informed Lue that “they’re not gonna pay that kind of money for three assistants on the bench. He wants to go younger in that position and, you know, find somebody who’s a grinder and younger in that position.”
The lawsuit also claims that subsequently Altman told Boylan that he and team owner Dan Gilbert wanted a younger coach at the position. After Boylan’s departure, the Cavs hired new assistant coach Terry Nooner, who is 40, and promoted several other younger assistants.
The suit names Altman and Gilbert but not Lue. The Cavs didn’t immediately have a comment.
Boylan has been an assistant coach in the NBA since 1992 and previously was an interim coach with the Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks. He joined the Cavs in 2013 and was an assistant under Mike Brown and David Blatt before Lue.