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Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez is coming off his first season in the NBA as a head coach and based on most accounts, he did a good job of establishing himself. Fernandez did not have an easy first season in Brooklyn as the team finished the 2024-25 season with a 26-56 record and it seems that some players are placing the blame at Fernandez's feet.
In an anonymous NBA players poll conduct by The Athletic, Fernandez received 2.7% of the 73 votes casted for the worst head coach in the league. For context on where Fernandez ranks within the poll, Washington Wizards coach Brian Keefe received 24.7% of the votes, following by former Phoenix Suns coach Mike Budenholzer (17.8%), Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers (12.3%), Charlotte Hornets coach Charles Lee (8.2%), and Philadelphia 76ers coach Nick Nurse (6.8%).
In terms of the amount of votes received for this category, Fernandez is tied for ninth-place with former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone. What is interesting about this poll is most of the coaches that were voted for were the leaders of teams that had disappointing seasons, but the context of how those poor campaigns came about were in the minds of the players that voted.
"It’s still worth noting that a majority of the players we polled declined to answer this question," The Athletic's Sam Amick and Josh Robbins wrote explaining the section. "As one of them said: “I’m not answering because I think the coaches are really good now. You could pick one of the bottom-feeders, like (redacted coach from a bad team), but I’ve had (him as a coach), and he’s good and it’s not his fault."
When it comes to Fernandez, he became the head coach of a Nets franchise that pivoted from trying to win as many games as possible with Mikal Bridges and Cam Thomas as the leaders of the team to a rebuild where the future was more important than the present. Brooklyn finished with the sixth-worst record in the NBA, but that was after trading away players like Dennis Schroder, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Shake Milton and buying out Ben Simmons.
One fair criticism regarding Fernandez's job performance is that while he has proven to be a coach that can command presence within the locker room, it still doesn't prove that he would be able to do the same thing on a team with championship aspirations in the future. However, plenty of people around the league, including players and coaches, have recognized Fernandez as a rising star in the coaching profession and that counts for something.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets' Jordi Fernandez receives votes for worst head coach in the NBA
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