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Pompey: Ty Lue wants $7 million per year to coach NBA team

NBA: Los Angeles Clippers at Cleveland Cavaliers David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Tyronn Lue wants a starting salary of $7 million to coach an NBA team, but might settle for a couple of million less, according to Keith Pompey of Philly. com. The 76ers, who fired Brett Brown days ago, are among those believed to have interest in Lue who’s an assistant with the Clippers under Doc Rivers. Lue’s name has come up in the Nets coaching search, according to reports and Pompey reiterated that the 43-year-old that “Lue expects an offer from Brooklyn.”

The 76ers beat writer notes that as a top candidate —with an NBA ring in 2016 and two trips to the NBA Finals in 2017 and 2018, all with the Cavs— Lue shouldn’t have trouble getting paid because of his resume’. Pompey writes...

Lue is the prime candidate for the 76ers coaching job. He’s also a candidate for the New Orleans Pelicans and Brooklyn Nets, and is monitoring the Chicago Bulls’ coaching vacancy.

While he wants $7 million per season, Lue could settle for $5 million to $6 million.

Although the Pelicans and possibly the Bulls may have interest in Lue, the 76ers and Nets appear to front-runners for his services. The Nets reportedly see Gregg Popovich as their priority and Joe Tsai reportedly wants a wide search before hiring a head coach.

Lue reportedly has a good relationship with Kyrie Irving who was on the 2016 championship team and Joe Harris who played a year-and-a-half with Cleveland before being traded prior to the 2016 playoffs.

In addition to his ring as a Cavaliers coach, Lue also has two rings as a player with the Lakers in the early 2000’s.

The Nets presumably still owe Kenny Atkinson a year or more of salary under his contract, terminated in early March. His deal, which made him among the lowest if not the lowest paid coaches in the NBA when he signed in 2016, was extended during the 2018-19 season. Details of the extension were never disclosed.

Paying more than one coach at a time would not be uncommon. The Sixers, Pompey notes, still own Brown $10 million over the next two years and at one point near the end of Mikhail Prokhorov era, the Nets were paying four coaches.