Brooklyn Nets “name Sacramento Kings assistant Jordi Fernandez as new head coach”… ending month-long search for Jacque Vaughn’s replacement after disastrous season
- Jordi Fernandez helped the Sacramento Kings end a 16-year playoff drought
- The Nets finished with a 32-50 record as the 13th seed team in the East.
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Sacramento Kings assistant coach Jodi Fernandez has emerged as the favorite to become the next head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.
On Monday night, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that the Nets were ready to hire Fernandez two months after firing former head coach Jacque Vaughn.
Assistant Kevin Ollie acted as interim head coach in the absence of a permanent replacement. Yet the Nets finished their disappointing season with a 32-50 record as the 13th-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 with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ player development. He then coached their G-League affiliate, the Canton Charge, before working with the Denver Nuggets as an assistant from 2016-2022.
The Brooklyn Nets ready to hire Jordi Fernandez as their next head coach
Fernandez (right) is currently the associate head coach of the Sacramento Kings.
The Nets elevated Kevin Ollie to interim head coach after firing Jacque Vaughn in February
Additionally, Fernandez was hired as the 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 ending a 16-year playoff drought last season before losing to Golden State in the first round despite a third seed. Even though the Kings haven’t had 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 tenth-seeded Golden State again in the Play-in tournament.
Fernandez will take over a Brooklyn team that has failed to find its feet since the implosion of the Kevin Durant-James Harden-Kyrie Irving experiment in 2021.
Shortly after Harden’s departure, the Nets fired coach Steve Nash and moved Vaughn to interim status. However, Durant and Irving quickly requested trades and ended up in Phoenix and Dallas, respectively.
Although they managed to qualify for the playoffs following the departure of their stars, the Nets were swept by Joel Embiid and the 76ers in the first round.
