New York (AFP)
Unexpected upheaval in Brooklyn: the Nets, currently struggling for a place in the NBA play-offs, and their coach Kenny Atkinson, have decided to separate, the franchise announced on Saturday that appointed its assistant Jacque Vaughn to replace it .
"We agreed that a change of coach was in the best interest of the team," said team general manager Sean Marks in a statement.
"It was an extremely difficult decision, but the club believes that it is necessary at this time," he added, in the aftermath of the large victory against San Antonio (139-120).
No reason is invoked to justify this decision, all the more surprising since Brooklyn, currently 7th in the East (28 wins, 34 losses), is well placed to compete in the play-offs from mid-April.
And this by playing a good part of the season without Kyrie Irving, who has just had surgery on one shoulder and will miss the end of the current exercise. Without forgetting the unavailability of the other big star recruited last summer, Kevin Durant, who is still treating a rupture of an Achilles tendon.
Kenny Atkinson, who will not have had the opportunity to train these Nets with medium-term title ambitions, had held the position of coach since 2016. He led the Nets in the first round of the playoffs last season , before being eliminated by Philadelphia.
Aged 52, this former player fed on European basketball, passed through France (Montpellier, Nantes, Mulhouse, Evreux), Italy, Spain, Germany, then was assistant coach in New York and Atlanta, before becoming number one in Brooklyn.
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