NBA Rumors: Mike Budenholzer Eyed $8M+ Per Year on Potential Nets HC Contract

Mike Budenholzer reportedly wanted a head-turning contract if he was going to become the next head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.

HoopsHype's Michael Scotto and the New York Post's Brian Lewis discussed the Nets' coaching situation and overall search process before they reportedly landed on Jordi Fernández.

Lewis said in their Thursday discussion that "Budenholzer was part" of a "wide search," although "his contract demands were rather high. A lot of money for a lot of years. The numbers I've heard that I can't share are probably beyond even my wildest expectations."

Lewis did say that his demands were more than $8 million annually but less than $15 million annually.

Scotto noted Nets governor Joe Tsai "liked Budenholzer as a potential candidate because of his championship pedigree," but that would have been quite the contract to give to a coach for a team that isn't exactly in the middle of a win-now window.

Brooklyn instead went a different direction with ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reporting Monday that "Fernández has emerged as the Brooklyn Nets' choice."

Fernández has been the Sacramento Kings' associate head coach for the past two seasons and also has experience as an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets and the coach of the Canadian men's basketball team.

He will be taking over a team that is still attempting to move past the failed superteam of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden. Head coach Jacque Vaughn started 21-33 this season with none of them still on the roster, and Kevin Ollie took over in an interim role and went 11-17 following his predecessor's firing.

Fernández emerged from a coaching search that included multiple names, as Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported earlier this month that Budenholzer and Phoenix Suns associate head coach Kevin Young were also seen as finalists.

BYU has since hired Young to replace Mark Pope, who left for the Kentucky job after John Calipari bolted for Arkansas.

That leaves Budenholzer as the odd man out, although he will likely find a coaching job again in the future if he wants one. After all, he coached the Atlanta Hawks for five seasons from 2013-14 through 2017-18 and made the playoffs four times before taking over the Milwaukee Bucks for the following five seasons.

All he did in Milwaukee was make the playoffs in each of his five seasons and win a championship.