CHICAGO — After turning the Nets into a playoff team in their first season in Brooklyn, general manager Billy King is set to remain in charge of the franchise for the foreseeable future.
League sources confirmed to The Post that King, who oversaw the transformation of the franchise from a moribund lottery team in New Jersey to a 49-win team that finished fourth in the Eastern Conference this season but lost 79-76 to the Bulls in Game 3 of their first-round series last night, will soon be receiving a multi-year extension to remain atop the Nets’ front office.
His contract had been set to expire at the end of the season. Yahoo! Sports first reported the extension.
King was hired by the Nets in July 2010, on the heels of the team’s 12-70 campaign in its final season in the Meadowlands. He then spent the next two years trying to acquire assets to land stars in order to enter Brooklyn with a team ready to be a factor in the Eastern Conference.
He wound up finding the face of the franchise he was looking for in star point guard Deron Williams, whom he landed in a blockbuster trade with the Jazz a day after the Nuggets finally decided to send Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks in February 2011.
Then, after unsuccessfully spending much of the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season trying to trade for Dwight Howard, King then acquired Gerald Wallace at the trade deadline last March before leading the franchise into a dramatic roster overhaul last summer ahead of the team’s move to Brooklyn.
In addition to convincing Williams to re-sign, as well as re-signing Wallace and Brook Lopez — who was a restricted free agent — King also acquired Joe Johnson in a trade with the Hawks, pulled off a sign-and-trade deal for Reggie Evans and picked up C.J. Watson, moves that helped the Nets become a contender in the Eastern Conference this season.
With King expected to be in charge moving forward, the next question facing the franchise is to determine the status of interim coach P.J. Carlesimo. Since taking over for Avery Johnson in late December, Carlesimo led the Nets to a 35-19 record through the end of the regular season, good for the sixth-best winning percentage in the NBA during that timeframe, and second only to the defending champion Heat in the Eastern Conference.
The decision to retain King as Nets general manager also likely means thoughts of Phil Jackson coming to Brooklyn to be involved with the franchise will end with it. In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, the 11-time champion as a coach said that he’s “had some talks with people, and there are some interesting situations presenting themselves,” but admitted he also hadn’t made up his mind about his future yet.
Jackson, who has been out of the game since leaving the Lakers for a second time in 2011, reiterated that none of the talks he’s had with teams involve coaching, which is consistent with previous statements he’s made about preferring, if he does get back into the sport, to do so in a front office role with a team.