Semantics matter, particularly in the titles of NBA positions. After the Brooklyn Nets and former head coach Steve Nash parted ways, the franchise named longtime assistant Jacque Vaughn as acting head coach, as opposed to the interim title Vaughn received when he filled Kenny Atkinson’s first chair during the disjointed 2019-20 season.

Vaughn was only told he’d be overseeing last Tuesday night’s clash against the Chicago Bulls. The Nets, as was widely reported, were moving forward with hiring suspended Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka, despite Boston’s play-caller being sidelined for an improper relationship with a subordinate. There were contract stipulations and other hurdles to clear, but Udoka’s ultimate succession appeared a foregone conclusion, according to multiple people with knowledge of the Nets’ coaching search.

Then Vaughn was asked to run Nets practice on Thursday. And then he was tasked with coaching a three-game road trip, collecting wins in Washington and Charlotte before a narrow defeat in Dallas, without a whisper of forward progress on Udoka’s potential hiring. So Vaughn kept coaching, kept serving, as the coach described, in whatever role the organization needed. By Wednesday, Brooklyn announced he would remain as the team’s head coach. Vaughn reportedly signed a new contract that extends through the 2023-24 season.