Jared Dudley left the Brooklyn Nets for the Los Angeles Lakers last July, but the 34-year-old veteran has an opinion about his former team's head-coach search.
Dudley told Newsday's Greg Logan that he "would not be surprised" if the Nets hired Tyronn Lue. "T. Lue is a phenomenal coach who doesn't get enough credit for his Xs and Os," he added.
Lue was an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers when Dudley played there during the 2013-14 campaign.
The Nets fired Kenny Atkinson on March 7. He went 118-190 since taking over as head coach ahead of the 2016-17 season. Brooklyn is 28-34 in 2019-20, though the NBA announced on March 11 this season has been suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak. The hiatus will last "at least 30 days," according to the league.
Lue has been linked as a favorite to replace Atkinson because of his connection to Kyrie Irving, who signed with the Nets last summer on a four-year contract worth $141 million.
"Irving soured on Atkinson early, league sources told Yahoo Sports, and currently prefers Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue to be the team's next head coach," Yahoo Sports' Vincent Goodwill wrote. "Lue was the head coach in Cleveland when Irving hit the winning shot in the 2016 NBA Finals and was in talks to take the Lakers job before discussions broke down."
Jacque Vaughn was named the interim head coach for the remainder of this season. The Nets went 2-0 under Vaughn, including a 104-102 win over the Lakers on March 10, before the hiatus began.
Lue went 128-83 as Cleveland's head coach from 2015 until the team fired him six games into last season. He returned to the Clippers as an assistant coach last August.
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