Avery Johnson Seeking 3-year, $12 Million Dollar Deal

The New Jersey Nets and Avery Johnson have come together on an agreement that will make Johnson the next coach of the Nets.

They haven't ironed out contract details yet, but Fanhouse reports that negotiations have begun.

A source close to the ESPN analyst confirmed Marc Stein's ESPN.com report to FanHouse that the former Dallas coach and the Nets have entered contract negotiations with his lawyers, Jeremiah Haylett (Dutt Sports General Counsel) and Curry Cooksey (Orgain, Bell and Tucker, LLP). Assuming Johnson's deal is worked out, he will return to the bench for the first time since being fired from the Mavericks' head post in 2008.

Yahoo! reporter Marc Spears reported that Johnson would be given a three-year deal, and sources close to Johnson told FanHouse that his target salary entering negotiations with Thorn - and by extension new Nets billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov - was between $4 million to $4.5 million per year.

NBA.com's Art Garcia tweets details on possible candidates for Johnson's staff as well.

Possibles for Avery Johnson's staff in New Jersey include Blazers asst Joe Prunty & Mavs asst Popeye Jones.

Jones and Johnson played together for the Dallas Mavericks during the 2003-2004 season.