Ime Udoka, suspended coach of the Boston Celtics, is a possible candidate to replace head coach Steve Nash in Brooklyn, according to multiple reports.

Nash was fired Tuesday after a disappointing start and more controversy surrounding Kyrie Irving.

Udoka has emerged as a “strong frontrunner” to be the Nets’ next head coach and the two sides have begun discussions already, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. Udoka is currently suspended for the entire 2022-23 season after violating team policies. But the Celtics won’t block any team from hiring Udoka, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. That leaves the possibility of Udoka becoming a head coach with the Nets.

Of course, letting Udoka leave for Brooklyn is another question. There are also the implications of hiring Udoka mid-suspension, but the Nets are at the start of their search and Charania reports they’re doing their due diligence.

Nets General Manager Sean Marks denied that he had decided on a coach and wouldn’t give a list of candidates. He also wouldn’t discuss whether Udoka would be accepted in Brooklyn so soon after his troubles in Boston.

“But I would say I will reserve that for when those decisions are made and I couldn’t give you a timeline on that,” Marks said. “Obviously there’s a reason why we made this move when we did, because time is ticking. So we do want this process to be a thorough one, we’re not going to skip steps on that and then we’ll do our due diligence like in any way. When I was hired, when anybody was hired the organization does very, very thorough due diligence on anybody, and you arrive at the best possible outcome.”

The Nets announced they had parted ways with Nash, the Hall of Fame point guard, a day after they beat Indiana to improve to 2-5.

Nash made it to this season after Kevin Durant said he wanted him out this summer, but not much longer. The Nets have been another mess, with bad play on the court and bad headlines off it.

The biggest – again – was created by Irving, who posted a link to an antisemitic work on his Twitter page last week, drawing criticism from Nets owner Joe Tsai.

“Since becoming head coach, Steve was faced with a number of unprecedented challenges, and we are sincerely grateful for his leadership, patience and humility throughout his tenure,” Marks said in a statement.

“Personally, this was an immensely difficult decision; however, after much deliberation and evaluation of how the season has begun, we agreed that a change is necessary at this time.”

Nash led the Nets to a 92-62 record and the playoffs in both full seasons, his first as an NBA coach. But they lost Irving and James Harden to injuries during their second-round loss to Milwaukee in 2021, then were a first-round flop last season after trading Harden during the middle of the season.

Much of their problems during the latter season were caused by Irving being unavailable for most of their home games because he refused to get vaccinated for the coronavirus, as mandated at the time in New York City.

Nash handled it all as best as possible, but apparently not good enough for his best player. Durant said he wanted to be traded this summer if the Nets didn’t fire Marks and Nash, but Tsai stood by them and Durant eventually pulled back his request.

Nash downplayed that before this season began, saying he didn’t believe the reports were entirely true and that they had quickly talked through their issues.

But things started poorly this season and Nash gave some his hardest criticism of the team during his tenure after their loss to Indiana on Saturday night, calling their defense effort a “disaster” and saying he didn’t see desire or will.

“We have to look deep, deep inside ourselves and what we want to do, what we want to accomplish,” Nash said. “Do we want to give up on this because it’s been difficult early, or do we want to stay the course and start to build something?”

Much of that was ignored because the focus was on Irving’s combative news conference defending his tweet, and the Nets beat the Pacers in the rematch Monday to end a four-game skid.

But Nash’s tenure ended anyway a day later, hours before Brooklyn is set to host Chicago. Jacque Vaughn will serve as acting head coach against the Bulls.

Tsai alluded to the constant turbulence around the team in his statement thanking Nash.

“My admiration and respect for him grew over time as he brought hard work and positive attitude to our organization every day, even in periods of exceptional storm surrounding the team,” Tsai said.

Nash thanked the Tsai family and Marks for giving him the opportunity, calling the job “an amazing experience with many challenges that I’m incredibly grateful for.”

Marks chose his former teammate as coach in 2020 despite no experience in the job, citing Nash’s ability to be a connector of personalities as a player, when he was a two-time MVP with the Phoenix Suns who ended his 18-year career third on the NBA’s list with 10,335 assists.

But his schemes were criticized as the Nets struggled defensively throughout his tenure and often didn’t show the ball-moving style of play on offense that his Suns teams did, instead relying on Durant, Irving or Harden to isolate.

Beyond the player changes, Nash also had to adapt to changes on his bench. Mike D’Antoni, the two-time NBA Coach of the Year, stepped down as his assistant after one season, and Udoka left to become coach of the Boston Celtics.

The Nets said a decision on the team’s next coach would be made in the near future.

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