By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Heading to the 2024-25 installment of the NBA, Jordi Fernandez will be the first Spanish-born coach serving as head coach in the league based in North America.
Fernandez, 41, will take over the Brooklyn Nets, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. He was reported among the final candidates and stood out after a wide search. Currently working with Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown as the associate head coach, his focus is on the Play-Ins and providing his expertise in the push to advance to the 2024 Playoffs presented by Google Pixel.
Following in the footsteps of Serbian tacticians Igor Kokoskov and Darko Rajakovic, Fernandez adds to the list of permanent European head coaches in the league, breaking the barrier for Spain. On the way to the Nets, he worked as an assistant coach under Michael Malone at the Denver Nuggets from 2016 to 2022 before joining the Kings over the last two years.
Last summer, the Badalona native was the head coach of Canada in the 2023 FIBA World Cup, winning a bronze medal. International experience as an assistant coach emerged from the senior national team of Spain between 2017 and 2019 and from a similar role in the U19 squad in 2013.
Previous head-coaching experience extends to the Canton Charge in the G League from 2014 to 2016, on the heels of an assistant gig with the Charge and a role as a player development coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers over the three previous seasons.