Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported Nets CEO Brett Yormark is pushing hard behind the scenes for Calipari to take over Brooklyn's bench in an overarching role. Calipari would be given control over the roster and a massive salary that would make him the highest-paid coach in basketball.

As it stands, Calipari has set a reported asking price of $120 million over the next 10 years to even consider leaving Kentucky. That price comes from a combination of the 10-year base the Cleveland Cavaliers offered in 2014 and Phil Jackson's $12 million annual salary to run the Knicks. Calipari currently makes between $8 and $9 million per season at Kentucky and enjoys almost complete job security—a rarity in today's basketball landscape.

The 56-year-old previously coached the Nets for parts of three seasons in the '90s. He went 72-112 overall and was fired following a 3-17 start to the 1998-99 campaign. That experience would eventually lead him back to the college game at Memphis, where he rebuilt his reputation as a grand architect who took full advantage of the one-and-done culture.