NBA Source Says John Calipari "Desperately Wants" to Coach in the Pros Again

Would John Calipari really consider becoming the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets?

Image via USA TODAY Sports/Jamie Rhodes

If Kentucky head coach John Calipari leads his team to an NCAA National Championship and an undefeated season early next month, he will have absolutely nothing left to prove at the college level. So there are some basketball analysts who believe that he might try to make a return to the NBA—Coach Cal was 72-112 in two and a half seasons with the New Jersey Nets back in the late 1990s—to give the pros another shot. And if he does, there will be NBA franchises banging down his door trying to get him to come coach their teams.

One of those teams would probably be the Nets, who have ben very underwhelming (to say the least!) this season. So The Record writer Steve Popper just made a compelling case for Cal to make his way to Brooklyn after the current college basketball season is over. And he spoke with at least one NBA front office source who said that he believes Cal might be intrigued by the idea of going pro again.

"He desperately wants it," the source told Popper. "He won't say it out loud. The NBA is the only place he's ever failed and it drives him nuts. He's not the same guy he was then. He came to the NBA and he wasn't ready. He's ready now."

If we had to bet money on it, we wouldn't wager on Cal making a return to the NBA. It just doesn't seem like it's going to happen. But who knows? Stranger things have happened, and if he does manage to go undefeated with the Wildcats this season, he might be interested. We'll have to wait and see.

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[via The Record]

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