Jordi Fernandez, increasingly closer to breaking the barrier of being an NBA head coach | satisfaction

And the Spanish Jordi Fernandez, assistant coach of the Sacramento Kings and coach of Canada One of the three main candidates to be the new coach of the Brooklyn NetsThis Saturday, the portal reported The athlete.

Shams Charania, one of the best journalists in the NBA, confirmed this The athlete Fernandez is one of three finalists on the Nets' bench alongside Mike Budenholzer and Kevin Young, the Phoenix Suns' assistant coach.

Among those three names Budenholzer is the candidate with the most distinguished resume Since it was NBA champion in 2021 with the Milwaukee Bucks By Giannis Antetokounmpo. In addition to five seasons at the helm of Milwaukee, Budenholzer, now without a team, was the coach of the Atlanta Hawks for five years. Budenholzer has won the NBA Coach of the Year award twice: in 2015 with Atlanta and in 2019 with Milwaukee.

Jordi Fernandez is one of the most valuable assistant coaches currently in the NBA and his name has been heard as a potential head coach for the franchise in recent years. In reality, Brooklyn isn't the only team he's considered For next season since the Charlotte Hornets also named him among the candidates to be their coach earlier this month.

“This will come eventually: Rushing never helps, and I have no concerns about being a head coach. It's going step by step and it will arrive. And when it will be, it will be.”The person from Badalona told EFE in an interview in February.

After the dissolution of the “Giant Team” led by Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving, The Nets have had a bad season that won't even allow them to play in the East. With just one day remaining in the regular season, Brooklyn sits in 11th place in the East with a sad 32-49 record.

An unusual path to the top

Having arrived in the NBA after a long time, Fernandez has the advantage of being born in a city that lives for basketball like Badalona. His first stop was Cleveland, after impressing Mike Brown with his work ethic. Between the Cavaliers and Canton, the Premier League team where he was head coach, Gordie has a 2016 championship ring to his name.

He packed his bags for Denver after a call from Mike Malone, and from working with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, he went to work with Nikola Jokic. By then, in 2018, ESPN had mentioned him as a future NBA bench coaching candidate. The list included names such as Nick Nurse, Stephen Silas, Igor Kokoskov and Lloyd Pearce, to give three examples of coaches who have already arrived. That's why Mike Brown called him back.

In Sacramento since 2023, he has already captained the team once and together with Brown managed to lead the Kings to the playoffs After nearly two decades of drought. In addition, he took over the reins of the Canadian national team, which he led to a historic third place in the last World Cup finals and which he will lead in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.