The Nets Have Fired Coach Jacque Vaughn

Jacque Vaughn’s tenure as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets has come to an end, as the organization chose to make a coaching change for the second half of the season.

Vaughn was always in a difficult position, as he took over the Nets coaching job last year and saw his two top stars push their way out in trade demands, as Kevin Durant ended up in Phoenix and Kyrie Irving went to Dallas. That said, there was clearly a desire in Brooklyn to remain competitive, and as the All-Star break arrived, the Nets were in 11th in the East at 21-33, showing very little in the way of positive signs of late as they have gone 8-23 in their last 31 games.

Roster construction and injury issues have undoubtedly played their role, but the coach is always the first to go in these situations and Vaughn is now out of a head coaching job once again. Vaughn coached the Magic for three years from 2012 to 2015, where he was let go around the time of the All-Star break then as well, and then did well as the interim coach in Brooklyn in the 2020 bubble but was not the choice for full-time coach after.

The Nets now will be part of this summer’s coaching carousel, but whoever comes in will need the front office to build a better roster around Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, and Nic Claxton (and they’ll need to continue to assess if those two can be The Guys).