Just hours after the Brooklyn Nets announced the firing of head coach Steve Nash last Tuesday, breaking news emerged that the team would hire suspended Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka to fill the vacant position.

NBA insiders Shams Charania and Adrian Wojnarowski both made strong reports detailing Brooklyn's intentions, with the latter indicating that a deal could be done as early as Wednesday.

Yet nearly a week has passed and all has been quiet on the Udoka front for Brooklyn. Amid the halt in momentum, Marc Stein reported Sunday that there have been “strong voices” urging Nets owner Joe Tsai to back off his intent to hire the suspended coach.

The report comes with the Nets enveloped in a PR crisis surrounding Kyrie Irving. Brooklyn waited nearly a week to discipline the guard for his promotion of an antisemitic film, announcing a five-game minimum suspension late Thursday after Irving's repeated refusal to apologize.

Many around the league have been skeptical about the decision to add another controversial figure in Udoka given Brooklyn's early dysfunction. Boston suspended the head coach for the entire 2022-23 season after it was found he had an inappropriate intimate relationship with a female staff member. Following Nash's firing, Nets general manager Sean Marks denied reports that Brooklyn had decided on its next coach, emphasizing a thorough vetting process for potential candidates.

“There's a reason we made this move when we did,” Marks said. “And we’ll do our due diligence. The organization does very, very thorough due diligence on any (potential hire) and you arrive at the best possible outcome.

“Whenever you bring anybody in here. Whether it’s a new head coach or an intern, it doesn’t matter. You are doing your due diligence on everybody’s background,” he continued. “You’re looking at past relationships, prior relationships, current relationships, you name it, to make sure you are bringing in the right people at the right time for the right job.”

Udoka served as an assistant on Brooklyn’s staff during the 2020-21 season before leaving for the Celtics. In his first season as head coach, he led Boston to a 51-31 record and the franchise's first Eastern Conference title since 2010. The 45-year-old has a strong defensive background, serving as defensive coordinator for the 76ers and Nets before joining Boston.

From a basketball perspective, it is easy to see why Udoka would be the logical choice for Brooklyn. The Nets rank 21st in defensive rating and have struggled to slow down high-level offenses early in the season. The head coach's defensive prowess was on full display in Boston's first-round sweep of Brooklyn during last year's playoffs.

Udoka also has experience with all three of the Nets' stars. He coached Durant and Irving with Brooklyn in 2020-21, as well as Ben Simmons with Philadelphia in 2019-20. The coach has a prior relationship with Marks as well, having spent four seasons with the general manager in San Antonio before later joining him in Brooklyn.

Wojnarowski reported Wednesday that despite his situation in Boston, the Nets view Udoka as a potential “stabilizing force” and leader in the locker room as they try to salvage the already chaotic season.

“Sean Marks sees a coach in Udoka who I think he believes will command the respect of that locker room and improve them defensively,” he said. “This is probably the last-ditch effort to make this work.”

Stein reported Monday that Udoka is not only Marks' choice for head coach, but also Durant's.

“Udoka, though, is believed to be the preferred choice of not only GM Sean Marks but also Nets star Kevin Durant,” he said. “Udoka’s hiring was initially regarded as a mere formality in the wake of Nash’s exit last Tuesday, but his expected deal with the Nets has yet to materialize.”

While Udoka appears to be both Marks and Durant's top choice, reports of the Nets' intention to hire the head coach came before they were forced to suspend Irving. This development, the latest in a string of controversies surrounding the guard, may have led Brooklyn to question whether the situation is past the point of saving.

Durant has continued to look like a top-five player early this season. The former MVP ranks third in the league in scoring at 31.5 points per game. Durant's 315 points thus far are his most ever through the first 10 games of a season and the most in Nets franchise history. While the 12-time All-Star appearing committed and maintaining his level of play are positives, Brooklyn's path to contention this season hinged on two main hopes:

1. Irving remaining out of the headlines, available and productive in a contract season

2. Ben Simmons returning to his All-Star form as an elite perimeter defender and point guard

It took less than eight games for No. 1 to go up in flames. Irving will remain out until Nov. 13 at the earliest and his future beyond that is very much in question. Brooklyn outlined six steps the seven-time All-Star must complete before he will be eligible to return. However, Stein's Monday report said that the team may have crafted the list with knowledge Irving would not complete them.

“There is growing pessimism in various corners of the league that Kyrie Irving will ever play for the Nets again,” Stein said. “After initially moving so slowly to sanction Irving for his ongoing support of a movie widely regarded as anti-Semitic and described Thursday by NBA commissioner Adam Silver as containing ‘vile and harmful content,' Brooklyn has gone the other way, assembling a list of what the team terms six ‘remedial measures' that must be completed before Irving can be reinstated.

“There is a feeling among some close to the process, I'm told, that the list was crafted with the knowledge that Irving would be unlikely to complete all six and thus could conceivably subject himself to potential outright release,” he continued.

A recent article from Sam Amick of The Athletic polling NBA executives also shared a bleak outlook on the guard's future.

“He’s the opposite of a commodity, which is what you want a player who’s getting paid that much to be,” one general manager said.

“I think Kyrie might not play in the NBA again,” said another general manager.

Irving is in the final year of his contract after Brooklyn refused to offer him a fully guaranteed, long-term deal this summer. And for a team that was already extremely hesitant to tie the knot with the unpredictable guard, the opening weeks of this season likely secured his fate in Brooklyn.

As for Simmons, the 26-year-old has severely underwhelmed thus far while looking like a shell of his old self physically. The three-time All-Star is recovering from offseason back surgery and missed Brooklyn's last four games with knee soreness.

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Simmons has been extremely passive while showing visible discomfort in his back when initiating contact. The former top pick is averaging 6.2 points on just 5.7 shots per game and has been “a source of frustration” for Durant and other Nets players, according to Wojnarowski.

Irving's media circus and Simmons' struggles have Brooklyn at 4-6 on the season. While the Nets put together back-to-back road wins over Washington and Charlotte this weekend, their ability to compete with the league's top teams looks highly questionable. The disastrous start comes after Durant's trade request this summer.

If the Nets were to trade Durant and blow the team up, they have a feasible path to a top-10 pick in the 2023 draft. Houston has a pick swap with Brooklyn this year. However, the Rockets are in another tank season and currently sit dead last in the league at 1-9, making it unlikely that the Nets would finish worse. While Brooklyn would be unable to land projected No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama, they could have a shot at Scoot Henderson and several other coveted prospects.

All of this could lead Marks and Tsai to finally pull the plug on the Durant-Irving era, something several league executives alluded to in Amick's article.

“Just looking at Sean (Marks) and his history, where he’s come from and what he’s done in Brooklyn, and then knowing that you have these (high-caliber guys) in this draft, I don’t see how he doesn’t (tear it down),” one league executive said. “Maybe it’s pressure from ownership, and they want to win, or whatever — who knows? But left to his own devices, I think it’d only be natural to expect that they move Durant.”

“This (Irving suspension) is a step towards getting rid of him, whether it’s flat-out cutting him or trying to trade him. And I just can’t imagine KD wanting to be there, not because of his relationship with Kyrie but because the level of talent that’s going to be on that roster at this point in his career (will be subpar),” another executive said. “I don’t see him saying, ‘Yeah, let me stick it out here and just be the eighth seed in the East for the next three years.’ I would think he would probably want to move on at that point.”

Trading Durant would leave Brooklyn with a replenished stock of draft picks and/or young prospects, as well as a potential top-10 pick in this year's draft. The Nets were at a crossroads this summer with Durant's trade request and ultimatum calling for Nash and Marks to be fired. After a series of underwhelming offers, they decided to run it back and attempt to salvage the era.

Just 10 games into the season, the likelihood of Brooklyn contending for a title looks increasingly dim as each day passes. Marred by internal turmoil and instability for the last two seasons, Udoka was reportedly Brooklyn's chosen leader in another attempt to save what is left of the team.

If the Nets back off the hire entirely, it will speak volumes about their outlook for Durant and Irving's future in Brooklyn.