As the NBA continues its All-Star break before returning to play Thursday night, one team has made a change at head coach.
The Brooklyn Nets have parted ways with head coach Jacque Vaughn after just a season and a half at the helm.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski had the news first on Monday morning.
The Brooklyn Nets dismissed coach Jacque Vaughn on Monday morning, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/WjGyf1jONY
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 19, 2024
Vaughn was named head coach just seven games into the 2022-23 season as a replacement for Steve Nash. He also had a short stint as Brooklyn’s interim head coach in 2020 after Kenny Atkinson’s mid-season resignation. In all, Vaughn coached 139 games with the Nets and went 71-68. Vaughn also went 0-8 in two playoff appearances with the Nets.
Last Thursday night, the Nets lost to the Boston Celtics, 136-86, for the second-worst loss in franchise history. This was the final straw for Vaughn’s tenure, as it dropped the team to 21-33 on the season.
On Dec. 26, the Nets defeated the Detroit Pistons to move to 15-15 on the year, so they’ve gone just 6-22 in the past two months.
Former UConn Huskies head coach and longtime NBA player Kevin Ollie will be the interim head coach starting Thursday when the Nets return to action against the Toronto Raptors.
Despite the disastrous stretch of play, the Nets enter the second half of the season just two-and-a-half games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference, which would secure Brooklyn a spot in the Play-In Tournament.
