Basketball coach Jordi Fernández becomes first Catalan NBA head coach

Catalan basketball coach Jordi Fernández, from Badalona, has been named head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, an American basketball team in the National Basketball Association (NBA). 

This makes Fernández the first Catalan and Spanish head coach in NBA history. He is also the third European head coach in the American basketball league. 

"I am eager to work with this talented group of players and collectively drive our team forward. Together, we will be fully committed to building something special for Nets fans and the borough to be proud of for years to come," Fernández stated in a Brooklyn Nets press release on X.

Coaching career at 15 

The 41-year-old head coach has an impressive resume, starting when he was 15 years old. He would work in player development programs of clubs such as CB l'Hospitalet and CB Sant Boi. 

He later spent some time coaching abroad in Norway and the Netherlands. 

The Badalona native moved to Las Vegas in 2006 to be part of the coaching staff of the Impact Basketball Acadamy, a training program for people trying to make it into the NBA. 

In 2009 Fernández was hired by NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers as a player development coach, he stayed there for four years before becoming a coach for the Canton Charge in the G League, a minor basketball league, becoming their head coach a year later. 

Fernández also became an assistant coach for Spain's Under-19 men's national team, from 2017 until 2019, he was an assistant coach for the national team. 

The Badalona native became an assistant coach for NBA's Denver Nuggets and kept the role for 6 years, before becoming the associate head coach for the Sacramento Kings in 2022.  

He eventually left the team after two years to become the Brooklyn Nets' head coach. 

First Canadian FIBA medal 

Since the summer of 2023, Fernández is the head coach of the Canada's men's national basketball team. 

He led the Canadian team to their first medal at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup with a bronze medal. Germany was the winner, followed by Serbia. Canda defeated the United States in the final round. 

The Canadian team is qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics and Fernández is expected to resume his role as head coach.