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Jacque Vaughn has been dismissed as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, the team announced Monday.
The former NBA guard was in his second season as head coach of the Nets, who sit in 11th place at 21-33. His ᴀssistant in Brooklyn, Kevin Ollie, is expected to take over as interim head coach.
Vaughn was promoted from ᴀssistant coach himself after Steve Nash was dismissed in 2022.
‘This was an incredibly difficult decision, but one we feel is in the best interest of the team going forward,’ said Nets General Manager Sean Marks.
‘Jacque has represented this organization with exemplary character and class for the past eight years. The consistent positivity and pᴀssion he poured into our team daily will remain with the players and staff he interacted with throughout his tenure. We thank Jacque for all he has done for the Nets and the borough of Brooklyn, and wish him, Laura and their family nothing but the best in the future.’
Jacque Vaughn has been dismissed as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, the team announced
The Nets’ cupboard was left bare after the team traded Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant last year
Brooklyn GM Sean Marks thanked Vaughn for his ‘exemplary character and class’
It was a little more than two years ago when Marks promoted Vaugh from ᴀssistant to interim coach after dismissing Nash amid a 2-5 start.
‘We both felt that this was time,’ Marks said at the time.
Mikal Bridges is averaging 21.7 points a game, but the Nets rank 19th in offensive efficiency
Nash was signed as head coach in 2020 after the team signed All-Stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in the summer of 2019 when Kenny Atkinson was still coaching Brooklyn.
Publicly, Durant and Irving were both blamed for both Atkinson and Nash’s downfalls with the Nets, but nobody within the organization has blamed either for Marks decision to remove Vaughn’s predecessors.
Both Durant (Phoenix) and Irving (Dallas) were traded last season, leaving the cupboard somewhat bare for Vaughn in 2023-24.
The Nets do have star forward Mikal Bridges, whom they acquired in the Durant deal and have reportedly refused to move in any subsequent trades.
However, Bridges is not quite an elite scorer, and even at his current clip of 21.7 points a game, the Nets rank only 19th in offensive efficiency.
Vaughn now has a career record of 129-226 over parts of six seasons with the Orlando Magic and Brooklyn Nets.
