Jordi Fernández, the best associate head coach in the NBA

Jordi Fernández will soon become a head coach in the NBA - when or where he will work next remains unknown, but it will happen. For some time now, his name has always been in the pools when there is a coaching vacancy in the North American League. He has already been interviewed for a position several times - his name was among the options that the Toronto Raptors were considering to replace Nick Nurse this season along with [Spain coach] Sergio Scariolo. The job ultimately fell to Darko Rajakovic.

Fernández has worked as a head coach... although very briefly. Last December, the Catalan led the Sacramento Kings for the final nine minutes of the 123-124 win against the Raptors, taking over after Mike Brown had been ejected. In a nail-biting finale, the California franchise took the Air Canada Center duel by one point. His relationship with the North does not end there: this summer he led Team Canada to clinch their first medal (bronze) in a World Cup.

Brown said of Fernández: “Jordi, my lead assistant is fantastic. I got in the league about 15, 17 years ago, whenever it is, and he was a student in Spain - he played professionally but he was a student working on his PhD in Spain. I pulled him into the Cleveland Cavs organization. He’s interviewed or a head job or two before. He’s been with really, really good programs. He was a head coach in the G League and did a fantastic job. He was assistant at a high level with Spain’s national teams, so again, for a young guy, he’s well seasoned. He’s led Denvers defence the past few years and he’ll focus a lot in that area this coming year for the Kings

Taking the reins

Brown’s absence due to health and safety protocols in December against Denver once again gave Fernández the opportunity to coach the team in two more games. “I think he’ll be an NBA head coach one day,” Nuggets coach Mike Malone said before that doubleheader. The Spaniard worked under Malone for six seasons, from 2016 to 2022, before joining the Kings with Brown, with whom he also worked under as assistant coach during the last Olympic Games with the Nigeria national team.

An accumulation of experience for the best associate HC in the NBA, according to the general managers of the 30 franchises in the North American League. This is how, at least, they have expressed it in the traditional pre-season GM survey, the 22nd edition. In it, the one from Badalona was chosen with 31% of the votes as the second most important in the competition ahead of Terry Stotts, from Milwaukee and former Portland Trail Blazers coach for nine seasons (10%), Kevin Young (Phoenix, 10%) and Sam Cassell (Boston, 7%).