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The splashy, surprising hire of Steve Nash as the Nets’ head coach is sure to galvanize the team’s fan base, with a roster headlined by Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving primed to immediately compete for a championship.
However, Nash’s hire brought back into focus the ongoing discussion about how few nonwhite coaches are in the N.B.A., a league where about 80 percent of the players are Black. Nash, who has no coaching experience — even as an assistant — is white. Jacque Vaughn, who had been the Nets’ interim coach since March, is Black and had kept the team unexpectedly competitive in its 12 games in the N.