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Brian Windhorst
Mike Brown and Jordi Fernandez has a charming meet-basketball-sweetheart story and a real-life basketball-as-a-job story.
Both stories played a significant role in getting him to this remarkable position, as head coach of the Browns. new York Knicks And Fernandez as head coach of Crosstown Brooklyn Nets.
“It’s surreal to see him sitting in that seat in Brooklyn when I’m in New York,” Brown said of his longtime friend and mentor.
On Wednesday, they will face off at Madison Square Garden, while living in different realities. Knicks owner James Dolan recently said in an interview with WFAN that “Getting to the Finals, we definitely have to do. Winning the Finals, we should.”
Then, there’s Nets general manager Sean Marks, who made a trade two years ago to reacquire the Nets’ previously dealt first-round selections in 2025 and 2026 with the shaky intention of prioritizing draft position.
Recently, when the Nets won six out of nine games, largely due to the team’s improved defense, league scouts joked that Fernandez was doing a great job.
Two long-time friends, whose relationship goes back nearly 20 years, are coaching again in the same city – but, of course, not in the same reality.
“The New York media treats the Knicks a little differently than the Nets,” Fernandez said. “There’s a different level of pressure on Mike. But one thing about him is he’s always up for a challenge.”
In 2009, when It was here that Brown took his first NBA head coaching job. cleveland cavaliersHe met Fernandez when he was coaching at Impact Basketball, an academy in Las Vegas.
Brown left Vegas extremely impressed with Fernandez, a native of Spain who was schooled in European methods of training, and the way he connected with players during skills training.
Brown arranged for Fernandez to go to Ohio for an internship with the Cavs and also paid him to coach his teenage son Elijah.
Over the next year, Fernandez practically became an extended member of Brown’s family.
Fernandez said, “Mike let me use a car, a gas card, paid for the room I lived in, and I ate almost every meal at the practice facility.”
“Sometimes, Uncle Mike [Winger, then a Cavs assistant GM and now the president of the Washington Wizards] Would take me to this sushi place I loved but couldn’t afford. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Brown hired a series of rising assistants during his time in Cleveland, several of whom went on to become NBA head coaches: John Kuester (Pistons), Michael Malone (Kings & Nuggets), Lloyd Pierce (Hawks) and Jamahl Mosley (Magic).
Fernandez also moved up the ranks.
In his second year, he earned a full-time job as a player development assistant.
“I was making $35,000, but I had less money because I had to pay for my car and apartment,” Fernandez said.
But he soon began to show skills that could lead to a big coaching career. And Fernandez’s protégé, Elijah Brown, ultimately committed to play for then-coach Brad Stevens at Butler.
“Did I give him a chance? Yes.” Brown said. “But he was the one who took advantage of the opportunity.”
Brown was fired By the Cavs in 2010 after five seasons. But the organization, aware of Fernandez’s ability to build relationships and develop players, wanted the young coach to remain. Fernandez remained on the staff for the next three years, working for then-Cavs coach Byron Scott.
In 2013, the Cavs re-hired Brown, who had won 272 games in five seasons in Cleveland.
Fernandez, whose stature in the league had grown along with his salary (he could buy his own sushi by then), was excited that his mentor was returning. Fernandez was 30 years old with many years of NBA experience and he worked successfully with players such as kyrie irving and Tristan Thompson, and he hoped he could become an assistant coach on the Browns’ bench.
But in an organizational decision, Brown did not hire Fernandez to his staff.
Instead, the Cavs wanted to send Fernandez to the G-League. The Canton Charge’s head coaching job was open, and Fernandez was a candidate for the head coaching job in the G-League. But the Cavs didn’t want that job for him either.
Fernandez was offered an assistant coaching job with the Charge, a role he felt as a demotion.
He was being asked to move more than an hour away, including to his new girlfriend, Kelsey, who lived in Cleveland.
“We just started dating over the summer and she thought I was the coach of the Cavs,” Fernandez said, speaking about his wife and the mother of his two children. “Then, when the season was starting I had to explain that I was actually going to be in Canton.”
This situation damaged their relationship, at least for a short period of time. But it was also an important moment in Fernandez’s career.
His increased responsibility with the Charge proved transformative and he also linked up with Steve Hetzel, who had received the head coaching job before Fernandez. Hetzel is now an assistant coach on Fernandez’s staff in Brooklyn.
“I had one of the best years of my life and made a lifelong friend,” Fernandez said. “I had no one to distract me, and we were running the team in an NBA-style system. It was real coaching, and that’s when I started believing that I could eventually become a head coach in the NBA.”
a year later, Departed for assistant coaching job with Hetzel charlotte hornetsAnd Fernandez took charge. Since then his career has been on a steady rise.
After six seasons as an assistant coach with denver nuggetsHe rejoined the Browns as associate head coach in 2022 Sacramento Kings. After a surprising 48-win season, Brown won the Coach of the Year award and Fernandez’s reputation continued to grow.
Fernandez said, “I still remember the uncomfortable face-to-face meeting about the whole thing, and it’s something we laugh about.” “We’ve both changed and grown a lot since then.”
Indeed, they have. Brown got his first big job as a defensive-minded coach, and in Sacramento and now New York, he is known for his teams’ offensive prowess.
Brown was the head coach of the Nigerian national team. In a big moment for basketball in the country, he helped the team qualify for the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo and surprisingly beat Team USA in an exhibition game that year.
Fernandez, who was on Brown’s Team Nigeria staff, later became head coach of the Canadian national team and led them to a bronze medal at the 2023 World Cup, the nation’s first medal at the event.
When Brown was interviewing for the Knicks job last summer, Fernandez was a mentor and sounding board.
“When I want to share something or need something personal, Mike is the guy I always call,” Fernandez said. “We’re trying to find a night where we can go on a double date, and I’ll convince her to come to Brooklyn.”
It just won’t be Wednesday.
“To see him grow … it’s incredible,” Brown said. “He’s done a great job. Obviously, it’s a difficult situation.” [with the rebuild]. But he’s done a great job of motivating them to move forward and work as hard as they can to build for the future.”
ESPN’s Anthony Slater contributed to this story.
