Sacramento Kings assistant Jordi Fernandez has emerged as the Nets’ preferred choice to replace Jacque Vaughn as head coach, according to reports.
Fernandez, former Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer and Phoenix Suns associate head coach Kevin Young were considered to be among the candidates to fill Brooklyn’s vacancy. Kevin Ollie served as interim head coach over the Nets’ final 28 regular-season games after Vaughn was relieved of his duties in February.
Brooklyn finished 32-50 in 2023-24 and missed the postseason in a rather weak Eastern Conference.
Fernandez, 41, was viewed as one of the better assistant coaches in the NBA. The Barcelona, Spain native served on Mike Malone’s staff with the Denver Nuggets and Mike Brown’s staff in Sacramento. He was an assistant and a head coach for the G League’s Canton Charge, and also overlapped with LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal and Kyrie Irving as a player development coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Fernandez has also served as head coach of Canada’s men’s national team, which earned a medal in the 2023 FIBA World Cup. He will continue to coach with the Kings for the rest of this season, according to reports. Sacramento will play the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Play-In Tournament on Tuesday.
If a deal is finalized in the coming days, it will be the seventh head coaching hire since the Nets moved to Brooklyn in 2012 and the fourth of Sean Marks’ tenure as GM. Brooklyn fired Kenny Atkinson during the 2019-20 season, then hired Steve Nash, who was fired at the beginning of the 2022-23 season. Vaughn replaced Nash in November of 2022 but was fired in February after a 21-33 start.