According to Ian Begley of SNY, there were people within the Brooklyn Nets’ organization who were worried that Jacque Vaughn could hurt the team’s chances of landing a star player in the future.
Nets say they have fired head coach Jacque Vaughn. Several players had lost confidence in Vaughn amid Nets’ struggles, per SNY sources. Some within Nets had concerns that Vaughn could hinder their chances at landing a top player, SNY sources say.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) February 19, 2024
The Nets fired Vaughn on Monday. After coaching the Nets to a solid 43-32 record during the 2022-23 regular season, he didn’t see as much success with the team this season, evidenced by Brooklyn’s 21-33 record at the moment.
Before his stint as the head coach of the Nets, he also served as an assistant coach in Brooklyn and with the San Antonio Spurs franchise. Furthermore, he worked as the head coach of the Orlando Magic.
Brooklyn suffered arguably its most embarrassing loss of the 2023-24 regular season to this point in its final game before the All-Star break against the Boston Celtics back on Feb. 14. The Nets lost to the Celtics on the road by 50 points and were outscored in each of the four quarters. Plus, only two Nets players in Mikal Bridges and Trendon Watford managed to reach double digits in scoring.
Brooklyn’s defeat on Feb. 14 marked the team’s second loss in a row. The Nets lost another game to the Celtics on Feb. 13, though that game was much more competitive, as Boston won by just eight points. Celtics forward Jayson Tatum put together a dominant performance, as he totaled 41 points, 14 rebounds and five assists.
The Nets currently own the No. 11 seed in the Eastern Conference and are two-and-a-half games back of the Atlanta Hawks — who have also lost their last two games — for the No. 10 seed in the conference.
The only teams in the Eastern Conference with worse records than the Nets right now are the Toronto Raptors, Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards and Detroit Pistons.
Brooklyn’s first game after the All-Star break will be against the Raptors on the road on Feb. 22. The Raptors are two-and-a-half games behind the Nets in the standings at 19-36 and are riding a three-game losing streak.
