National Basketball Association

Reports: Nets give Bucks permission to talk to coach Jason Kidd

Published Jun. 28, 2014 9:59 p.m. ET

foxsports

After leading the Brooklyn Nets to the playoffs in his first season as a head coach, Jason Kidd may already be on the move. According to Yahoo Sports!, Kidd is in "serious negotiations" to become president of basketball operations for the Milwaukee Bucks.

As originally reported by the New York Post, Kidd requested that his duties be expanded to include overseeing the Nets’ basketball operations in addition to coaching. The Nets rejected that proposal, citing Kidd’s lack of experience – he took over coaching the team this season immediately after retiring as a player last year.

After Kidd’s request was turned down, the Bucks asked the Nets for permission to speak with him, and the Nets granted it. Longtime Bucks owner Herb Kohl sold the team in May, and one of the new owners, Marc Lasry, is a close friend of Kidd.

Current Bucks head coach Larry Drew just completed his first season with the team. According to the Yahoo report, Kidd is not immediately trying to take over as president and coach, according to sources, "but is intrigued with the higher-paying, lower-workload life of an executive."

Only four coaches in the league also have power over the team’s operations: Gregg Popovich with the Spurs; Doc Rivers with the Clippers; Stan Van Gundy with the Pistons; and Flip Saunders with the Timberwolves. Van Gundy and Saunders just joined that group this offseason.

The Nets, who experienced extreme roster turnover in addition to bringing in Kidd, started this past season slow. They lost 14 of their first 19 games, culminating in a 30-point loss to the Knicks, and speculation was rampant that Kidd wouldn’t make it out of his first season as a coach.

But Brooklyn turned things around after 2014 began, going 34-17 after Jan. 1 to jump above .500 and find itself in the playoff race in the Eastern Conference. The Nets finished with a 44-38 record, good for sixth in the East, and beat the Raptors in seven games in the first round of the playoffs. They went on to lose in the second round to the Heat.