Ken Berger

There has been "no change" in Lawrence Frank's status as coach of the 0-16 Nets as the franchise continues its inexorable march toward the record for NBA futility, two people familiar with the team's situation told CBSSports.com on Saturday.

After losing to the Kings 109-96 Friday night, the Nets enter Sunday's game against the defending NBA champion Lakers with a chance to equal the worst start in league history, achieved by the 1988 expansion Heat and 1999 Clippers. After Sunday's presumed defeat is in the record books, Nets president Rod Thorn faces a decision on Frank with two off days prior to the potential record-breaker at home Wednesday against Dallas -- and Frank's former point guard, Jason Kidd. Does he allow Frank, whom he has respected and supported, to achieve the futility mark at the hands of Kidd? Or does he deviate from his plan to evaluate Frank's job performance only when the team returns to full health?

A mercy firing might spare Frank the embarrassment of having his name forever associated with a winless start that has more to do with ownership's cost-cutting than Frank's coaching ability. But there's little hope it would change the Nets' fortunes. Shooting guard Courtney Lee played only three minutes off the bench Friday night after returning from a groin injury two games earlier. Although Devin Harris returned to the starting lineup against the Kings, the Nets are still without reserves Yi Jianlian, Jarvis Hayes, Keyon Dooling, Eduardo Najera, and Tony Battie. Thorn has been thus far steadfast in his plan to hold off on deciding Frank's future until the team has a reasonable complement of players available. One of the sources stipulated that there is no change in Frank's status "right now" -- further evidence of how fluid the situation is.

Frank is a lame duck in the final year of his contract, but with lead assistant Brian Hill having left to join the Pistons' bench, Thorn's options are limited to assistant coach Tom Barrise and assistant GM Kiki Vandeweghe. Complicating matters is the pending sale of the team to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov and the fact that Thorn and Vandeweghe also are in the final year of their contracts. Given the Nets' lame-duck status in New Jersey and the scant hopes for a meaningful turnaround, league sources believe it's not out of the question for lame-duck owner Bruce Ratner to mimic the Hornets' decision to install GM Jeff Bower as Byron Scott's replacement on the bench. It is believed that Vandeweghe, who traveled with the team on the current West Coast trip, would accept such a reassignment on an interim basis. 

Barring something even more unforeseen than an arena materializing in Brooklyn by the All-Star break, none of the above has more than a puncher's chance to knock the Nets off their collision course with history.