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Vaughn lost his job Monday, with Brooklyn in the midst of an 8-23 run since Dec. 14. It’s hard to say that Vaughn has been doing a good job at the helm of the Nets, but it’s equally difficult to see why management would expect anything else from a mismatched, undertalented Nets team.
It’s a sign of the chaos surrounding the Nets, who haven’t lived up to their high expectations since relocating to Brooklyn in 2012. In that time, they’ve had eight different coaches, including two go-rounds with Vaughn: Avery Johnson, P.J. Carlesimo, Jason Kidd, Lionel Hollins, Tony Brown, Kenny Atkinson, Vaughn, Steve Nash, then Vaughn again.
Atkinson lasted the longest, coaching 308 games, marshaling the team through some very lean years where Boston owned rights to Brooklyn’s first-round picks and making the playoffs. GM Sean Marks fired him just before the NBA shut down in 2020. Stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving chose Nash later in the year but soured on the first-time coach after two seasons.
It almost doesn’t matter who the head coach is when the franchise can’t decide on its direction. After the disastrous James Harden trades cost them multiple draft picks and saddled them with the albatross of Ben Simmons’ max contract, the Nets are trapped in NBA purgatory.
They have picks from the Phoenix Suns from trading Kevin Durant but don’t control their own picks until 2028. Their best player, Mikal Bridges, is a good player but far from a superstar. Their only young player with promise is Cam Thomas, an inconsistent scorer who has only a passing interest in defense. Or passing.
At the trade deadline, the Nets straddled the line between contention and rebuilding. They traded point guard Spencer Dinwiddie to pick up Dennis Schroder from the Toronto Raptors, and dealt Royce O’Neale to get a pick swap, hardly moves that would shift the fortunes of the franchise.
The firing is a sign of a lack of long-term planning. Vaughn signed a contract extension through the 2026-27 season less than a year ago. Now the Nets will be paying three coaches, as Nash’s original contract runs through next season.
Meanwhile, Marks remains in place, overseeing what will be his fifth different head coach since his hiring in 2016. At a certain point, owner Joe Tsai will have to stop cycling through coaches and look at the man who keeps hiring – and firing – all these coaches.
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