Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari is reportedly “interested” in the head coaching vacancy of the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans. John Reid of The Times-Picayune reported the Hall of Famer’s interest.
Per Reid, there definitely does seem to be interest on the Pelicans’ end, but the financial aspects of a deal could become an issue. Calipari is one of the best coaches in college basketball right now, if not THE best, and is currently paid about $8 million a year by Kentucky. New Orleans is only willing to pay around $5 million a year for the successor of Monty Williams, who was recently fired after five years on the job.
Just the same, the call of the NBA is a loud one for anyone in any part of the basketball world, and there’s almost surely something in the back of Calipari’s mind that has him jumping at the prospect of heading to New Orleans and reuniting with team star Anthony Davis, who he coached at Kentucky and won a national title with in 2012. The Pelicans also have guard Tyreke Evans on their roster, and Calipari coached him at Memphis.
But the fact remains that money talks and if New Orleans isn’t willing to at least match what Kentucky pays him, Calipari is going to need to see something in the Pelicans beyond the money he’d make that will convince him to leave Lexington, where he has gone 190-38 (82-20 SEC) in six seasons with the aforementioned championship, three Final Four trips and three SEC championships.
Adding onto that is that Calipari has coached in the NBA before, having gone 72-112 in two-plus seasons with the then-New Jersey Nets. With established success in college basketball to the tune of a career record of 593-175 and one bad stint in the pros, does he really want to go back and risk becoming a college coach who just couldn’t cut it at the next level?
Either way, this is a story to watch intently and Campus Sports will update it as more details become available.
Can’t get enough of Campus Sports? Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to stay updated with the latest news and exclusive giveaways!
*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
