Sources: Nets consider B. Colangelo for GM role

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Former Toronto Raptors and Phoenix Suns general manager Bryan Colangelo is getting strong consideration for the Brooklyn Nets‘ front office vacancy, according to league sources.

Sources told ESPN.com that the two-time former NBA Executive of the Year is high on the Nets’ list of potential targets to succeed Billy King, who was reassigned Sunday after a 5 1/2-year tenure marked by modest success and record-setting spending.

Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov insisted at a news conference Monday that he plans to be methodical in his search and interview a number of candidates for his both his GM and coaching vacancies after reassigning King and firing coach Lionel Hollins.

But sources say Colangelo has quickly emerged as a serious candidate should the Nets go the route of hiring a proven NBA executive to succeed King and then pursue one of the top of available coaches, such as Tom Thibodeau or Mark Jackson.

The Nets, sources say, have been drawn to Colangelo because of his strong track record in building contenders in both Phoenix and Toronto as well as his varied experiences over more than two decades in the league.

Nets CEO Brett Yormark acknowledged in a radio interview this week on WFAN radio that he would have interest in bringing back Kentucky’s John Calipari to the Nets in a dual coaching and executive role, but Yormark also acknowledged in the interview that it would take “a lot” to get him away from Kentucky.

Calipari, for his part, was adamant via multiple tweets Monday that he will not pursue a return to the Nets, while it remains unclear if anyone in the Brooklyn organization beyond Yormark has strong interest in courting him again.

Sources told ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on Monday that members of owner Prokhorov’s inner circle have been quietly reaching out to other potential GM candidates — in addition to Colangelo — to gauge their interest and seek insight on how Brooklyn can drag itself out of its current plight.

William Wesley, Calipari’s coaching agent, has let it be known across the NBA that it would take an offer of no less than “$120 million guaranteed” to lure Calipari away from Kentucky, in addition to a president’s title on top of coaching duties, sources told ESPN.

Sources told ESPN.com that those who have spoken to the Nets recently believe the search for replacements will be run by Dmitry Razumov, Prokhorov’s right hand man, and Irina Pavlova, who runs the U.S. wing of Prokhorov’s investment vehicle. It was Razumov, for example, who led the push to hire Jason Kidd as coach in 2013 despite Kidd’s lack of experience.

The New York Times on Sunday quoted NBA commissioner Adam Silver saying that “Prokhorov and his partner, Dmitry Razumov, have told me they intend to be more involved in the management of the franchise throughout the transition and moving forward.”

There is also a growing belief within the league that Prokhorov is leaning more on Sergey Kushchenko, who has served as president of Prokhorov’s team in Russia (CSKA Moscow) and more recently, at Prokhorov’s behest, ran Russia’s biathlon team leading into the Sochi Olympics.

Prokhorov last month completed a purchase of outstanding shares of the Nets and Barclays Center to make him the sole owner of both entities. But restoring the Nets to contention in the Eastern Conference figures to be his biggest challenge yet, despite the millions in salary cap space Brooklyn will be able to spend this summer, because of the numerous draft picks that the Nets surrendered in trades in recent years to acquire the likes of Joe Johnson, Gerald Wallace, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.

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