The Brooklyn Nets may be going for the only NBA champion head coach of the last decade who is currently unemployed.
In a column this week, Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports mentioned Mike Budenholzer’s name in connection with Brooklyn’s head coaching position (now vacant after Monday’s firing of Jacque Vaughn). Fischer notes that the Nets need a playoff-experienced head coach and adds that Budenholzer is the most decorated coach currently on the market.
Budenholzer, 54, is a two-time Coach of the Year who led the Milwaukee Bucks to the 2021 NBA title. He has a career head coaching record of 484-317 (.604) and also won four championships as an assistant with the San Antonio Spurs (overlapping with current Nets GM Sean Marks, who was a player for the Spurs at the time).
Budenholzer’s reputation did suffer because of an upset loss to the No. 8 seed Miami Heat in the first round of last year’s playoffs (which eventually led to his firing by Milwaukee). But he is still a highly-regarded coach who was also since linked to a different head coaching job. The Nets have tabbed a former NCAA champion as their interim coach, but they may be eyeing a former NBA champion in Budenholzer for the permanent job.
