Nets GM's disastrous run continues with firing of Jacque Vaughn

Jacque Vaughn.

The Brooklyn Nets fired Jacque Vaughn from his head-coaching position on Monday almost one year to the day after he received a contract extension.

The latest move continues Sean Marks’ disastrous run since he took over as Brooklyn’s general manager in February 2016.

Following three straight trips to the playoffs from 2013-15, the Nets then missed the postseason for three consecutive years from 2016-18. They’ve bounced back to make the playoffs in each of the past five years but have been eliminated in the first round four times and in the Eastern Conference semifinals once.

At 21-33 this season, Brooklyn is in 11th place in the conference standings and sits 2.5 games out of a spot in the Play-In Tournament.

Kenny Atkinson began his three-plus season run at the helm ahead of the 2016-17 campaign and stepped down in March 2020. Vaughn took over as the interim head coach before Hall of Fame point guard Steve Nash was hired as the leader in early September.

Despite having a trio of players in James Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving with 32 All-Star honors between them on the roster for parts of his two full seasons on the bench (2020-22), Nash’s group never fully reached their potential. It wasn’t all Nash’s fault though.

The three superstars remarkably played just 16 games together (including the playoffs) in their time with the organization.

From injuries to Durant and Harden to Irving’s refusal to get a COVID-19 vaccine and his antisemitism controversy, the future Hall of Famers hardly had time to fully mesh. Nash and the Nets mutually agreed to part ways on Nov. 1, 2022.

Vaughn took over and led Brooklyn to a 43-32 finish last season, but the group was swept in the first round by Harden, Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Durant and Irving both joined the Nets in July 2019, as the former was traded from the Golden State Warriors and the latter signed as a free agent. KD missed the entire 2019-2020 pandemic-altered season with an Achilles injury and made his return to action in December 2020, before Harden was traded to the Big Apple in February 2021.

The Nets went 48-24, earned the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs in 2021 and beat the Boston Celtics in five games in the first round. Brooklyn went up 2-0 on the third-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the conference semifinals but Irving suffered a right ankle sprain in Game 4 and missed the rest of the series. Harden re-aggravated a hamstring injury in Game 1 vs. the Bucks and missed the next three contests.

The Nets fell in overtime in Game 7 against Milwaukee, 115-111.

Harden was traded to the Sixers in February 2022 as part of a blockbuster deal that saw former Rookie of the Year point guard Ben Simmons land with the Nets. Simmons has only played 54 games with Brooklyn due to injuries and a full-season mental health break during the 2021-22 campaign.

Both Durant and Irving were traded (to the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks respectively) last February.

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