Jason Kidd forces his way out of Brooklyn, and into Milwaukee

Two seasons ago, Jason Kidd was a point guard for the New York Knicks. A mere nine days after he retired, he was named head coach of the Brooklyn Nets. Kidd had no previous coaching experience, at any level, and yet the Nets signed him to a four-year, $10.5 million contract. And this was a team with championship aspirations. Kidd's start was a rough one, as to be expected, including a public spat with assistant coach Lawrence Frank (who Kidd pushed the Nets to hire) and an abysmal first half of the season. Kidd seemed to put it together after the All-Star break, however, and got the Nets into the second round of the playoffs.

Now, Kidd thinks he deserves the Doc Rivers treatment. The rumors out of New York are that Kidd has asked to be named President of Basketball Operations, in addition to his role as head coach. He allegedly wants to be above General Manager Billy King on the food chain. Kidd tried to usurp King several times last year, including asking management to trade All-Star center Brook Lopez, along with forward Mirza Teletovic, to Milwaukee in exchange for talented-yet-troubled Larry Sanders and Ersan Ilyasova. He was also upset that Steve Kerr and Derek Fisher, two other newly-minted head coaches with zero experience, got deals worth double his. Blame your agent for that one, guy.

It seems that the Brooklyn brass has finally had enough. After Kidd's DUI, the very public Frank incident, "sodagate," and now this, they have allowed Kidd to begin speaking to other teams. The one and only team that Kidd has spoken to? The Milwaukee Bucks. New owner Marc Lasry is a close confidant of Kidd's and a former Nets minority investor. Kidd and the Bucks have allegedly reached an agreement for Kidd to become their President of Basketball Operations, a position the team currently does not have. The Nets and Bucks are now discussing compensation, with the Bucks allegedly denying Brooklyn's request for a first round pick.

Whether Kidd would take over for Larry Drew as head coach of the Bucks remains to be seen. League sources have told NetsDaily.com that Kidd has coached his last game for the Nets. Potential replacements have already started coming out of the woodwork, with Lionel Hollins and two unnamed college coaches (rumored to be Kevin Ollie and Billy Donovan) being discussed.

For more up-to-date info on this story, check out this thread from NetsDaily.

UPDATE 6/30/14 9:05 AM: Jason Kidd was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks for a 2015 and 2019 second round pick. He will take over as head coach, but will not be named President of Basketball Operations. According to Chris Broussard, however, Kidd will be given final say over all personnel decisions.