The Brooklyn Nets have snubbed Ime Udoka after team owner Joe Tsai was met with backlash over his plan to hire the former Boston Celtic as the team's head coach.
The Nets confirmed on Wednesday they had appointed Jacque Vaughn, who had been acting head coach after Steve Nash was fired by the team. Udoka was believed to be the frontrunner for the role immediately after Nash's dismissal, despite being suspended by the Boston Celtics.
Udoka was suspended for a year after he was found to have had a consensual affair with a female colleague, but was still free to coach another team. However, after the Nets reportedly received pushback from numerous figures inside the league, they've decided to go elsewhere.
The Nets have instead decided to interim head coach Vaughn the full-time gig. Vaughn had been assistant to Nash prior to the former all-star's departure.
Brooklyn wouldn't have had to give the Celtics any compensation fee, reports suggest, and they were apparently willing to let him leave for a conference rival, something Celtics star Marcus Smart wasn't happy about.
Smart said last week: "[Udoka's] name got slandered and slaughtered and it was 'He'll probably never coach again'. And a couple of months later, now he's possibly going to be the coach of one of our biggest rivals?
"It's tough. It makes no sense. But we can't control that. We have to control what we can, and I love the team here. I love the coaching staff. I love Joe."
NBA insider Marc Stein reported that "strong voices" had been urging Tsai to opt against hiring Udoka due to the negativity around the organisation already this season.
The Nets have endured a torrid start to the season, having won just four of their opening 13 games. Their star player, Kyrie Irving, has been suspended for five games without pay after he tweeted a link to an anti-semitic documentary and failed to initially apologise.
Irving is on the road to a comeback, having met with NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday. But it seems the situation inside the Nets organisation was too negative to add Udoka.
Vaughn has overseen two wins out of three games in his brief tenure in the hotseat. Defeat against the Dallas Mavericks on the road was his last as interim coach, and the Nets will face the New York Knicks in his first game as full head coach on Wednesday night.
