- Jordi Fernandez helped the Sacramento Kings break a 16-year playoff drought
- The Nets finished with a 32-50 record as the 13-seeded team in the East
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Sacramento Kings assistant coach Jodi Fernandez has emerged as the favorite to become the next head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.
On Monday evening, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that the Nets are willing to hire Fernandez two months after firing former head coach Jacque Vaughn.
Assistant Kevin Ollie has been serving as interim head coach in the absence of a permanent replacement. Still, the Nets finished their disappointing season with a 32–50 record as the thirteenth seeded team in the Eastern Conference.
Fernandez is currently the associate head coach of the Kings, a position he has held since 2022, alongside head coach Mike Brown.
Before arriving in Sacramento, Fernandez had his first NBA experience developing the Cleveland Cavaliers’ players. He then coached their G-League affiliate, the Canton Charge, before serving as an assistant with the Denver Nuggets from 2016-2022.
The Brooklyn Nets are ready to sign Jordi Fernandez as their next head coach
Fernandez (R) is currently the head coach of the Sacramento Kings
The Nets named Kevin Ollie interim head coach after firing Jacque Vaughn in February
Additionally, Fernandez was hired as head coach of the Canadian national team in 2023 and led them to a third-place finish at the FIBA World Cup last year.
Fernandez was one of the masterminds behind Sacramento enduring a 16-year playoff drought last season before losing to Golden State in the first round despite securing a third seed. While the Kings aren’t having as impressive a season this year, they are still in playoff contention after re-establishing themselves in the competitive West.
Sacramento finished the regular season with a 46-36 record and will face 10th-seeded Golden State again in the Play-in Tournament.
Fernandez will take over a Brooklyn team that has failed to find its legs since the Kevin Durant-James Harden-Kyrie Irving experiment imploded in 2021.
Shortly after Harden left first, the Nets fired coach Steve Nash and moved Vaughn to interim status. However, Durant and Irving soon requested trades and ended up in Phoenix and Dallas, respectively.
While they managed to make the playoffs after the departure of their stars, the Nets were swept in the first round by Joel Embiid and the 76ers.