John Calipari to the Pelicans? No! Says Coach Cal

Is another SEC coach heading to the NBA? According to a newspaper in New Orleans, may be. According to the New Orleans Times Picayune, Kentucky head coach John Calipari is interested in the Pelicans job.

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Sources out of New Orleans say the club is looking into to hiring Calipari from the Wildcats, but didn’t know if they had enough money to persuade him to leave Lexington.

But the Pelicans can only pay him $4 or 5 million a year, he makes double that at UK. As for Coach Cal, he has already denied interest in the job. He said this via Twitter:

Even though Anthony and Tyreke are in NOLA, I have no interest in the Pelicans or any other job. I have a great job and I'm happy at UK.
— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) May 19, 2015

It is interesting to note that even through he recently agreed to an extension, he hasn’t signed it yet. Not saying that he won’t sign it, but he hasn’t to this point.

So Coach Cal may be available to negotiate with the next NBA who will come calling. This time last year, his name was mentioned for the LA Lakers job before they hired Byron Scott for the position.

Calipari also use to coach in the NBA for the New Jersey Nets.

But obviously there might have been some truth to the rumor if Coach Cal felt the need to come out and deny any interest.

It may be a ploy on his part to get more money out of Big Blue nation and after the run he has had recently, that may not be a problem. It’s not the first time nor the last that a coach used another job opening to get a raise.

Apparently, it’s going to take more than $5 million to get Calipari out of Bluegrass Country that’s for sure and may be that’s the sign Calipari and his agent were sending out.

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