Tyronn Lue Reportedly Interested In Coaching Nets

Former Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue is interested in the Nets‘ head coaching job, a source tells Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News.

Bondy’s report comes about a month and a half after Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports suggested that Nets point guard Kyrie Irving would like to see the team hire Lue, his coach in Cleveland. We noted a week later that oddsmakers had installed Lue as the early favorite for the Brooklyn job.

The Nets parted ways with Kenny Atkinson just four days before the NBA suspended its season in March. Jacque Vaughn took over the role on an interim basis, winning his first two games before the league went on hiatus.

Under normal circumstances, the franchise would likely be in the midst of a full-fledged head coaching search right now, since the regular season was scheduled to end last Wednesday. However, with everything on hold as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the Nets are putting off their coaching search as well — GM Sean Marks said three weeks ago that pursuing potential candidates at this time “would completely not be fair to our group.”

Once they do initiate their coaching search, the Nets seem likely to consider Lue, who led the Cavs to a 128-83 (.607) record, three Finals appearances, and a championship in two full seasons and parts of two others. Lue reportedly received strong consideration from the Lakers last spring for their coaching job, but was said to be seeking a stronger commitment than the club was willing to offer. He ended up joining the Clippers instead as an assistant on Doc Rivers‘ staff.

Bondy speculates that Tom Thibodeau, Mark Jackson, Phil Handy, and Jason Kidd could be some of the other coaching candidates who receive consideration from the Nets.

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