The Brooklyn Nets are making another change at head coach.
Jacque Vaughn was fired after less than two seasons at the helm, the team announced on Monday. An interim coach has yet to be named.
Vaughn had been with Brooklyn since the 2016-17 season as an assistant or head coach.
The 49-year-old former NBA player took over as interim coach when the Nets fired Steve Nash on Nov. 1, 2022. He was given the full-time job eight days later and signed a contract extension with the team less than a year ago, on Feb. 21, 2023.
The Nets went 43-32 under Vaughn last season, making the playoffs as the No. 6 seed but getting swept in the first round after trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving months earlier. This season has gone sideways for Brooklyn, which sits at 21-33.
Despite their suboptimal record, the Nets are just two and a half games out of contention for the Play-In Tournament. They limped into the All-Star break though, wrapping up the first half of the season with a 50-point loss to the Boston Celtics in what was Vaughn’s final game.
Unlike most teams in this position, the Nets have no incentive to lose games down the stretch. Brooklyn owes its 2024 unprotected first-round pick to the Rockets due to the James Harden trade, which quickly backfired when he played just 80 games before requesting another trade. The Nets also owe the Rockets their 2026 unprotected first-round pick and two first-round pick swaps (2025, 2027). There is some help coming on the draft pick front, with the Nets owning three unprotected first-round picks from the Suns (2025, 2027, 2029) and one from the Mavericks (2029).
For now, the Nets are building around a core of Mikal Bridges, Cam Thomas, Cameron Johnson, Nic Claxton and Ben Simmons. Candidates to serve as interim coach could include assistant coaches Kevin Ollie, Will Weaver, Jay Hernandez or Ronnie Burrell.
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