The Brooklyn Nets have begun the next era of their franchise after officially announcing the hiring of Sacramento Kings assistant coach Jordi Fernandez to lead the team into the future. While Fernandez will be formally introduced to the media on Wednesday morning, there seems to be one player who needed some early intel on the new head coach.
James Ham of TheKingsBeat.com reported on Monday that Nets guard Mikal Bridged reached out to Kings guard De’Aaron Fox for information regarding Fernandez. Fox said this during his exit interview after Sacramento’s season ended on Friday with a 105-98 loss at the New Orleans Pelicans in the Western Conference play-in tournament eighth seed game.
It makes sense that Bridges reached out to Fox about Fernandez given that the former Villanova Wildcat has now played for two different head coaches in less than two seasons in Brooklyn. Fernandez will be the third head coach for the Nets since Bridges came to the team at last season’s deadline, succeeding Jacque Vaughn and interim head coach Kevin Ollie.
Fernandez has spent the past two seasons with the Kings and seems to have been crucial to Fox’s development among other things in his role as an assistant coach. During the 2022-23 season, Fox made third-team All-NBA, made the first All-Star appearance of his career, and won Clutch Player of the Year.
While plenty of people that have crossed paths with Fernandez over the course of his career have nothing but good things to say about him, the local New York media will have their chance on Wednesday to get to know what makes Fernandez tick. As that relates to Bridges, he will have to adjust to playing for a new head coach once again, but Fernandez could work wonders for everyone in the franchise.
According to De'Aaron Fox, Mikal Bridges reached out to him this morning about Jordi Fernandez, who is expected to take the Nets head coaching job.
— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) April 22, 2024
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