The Knicks, Nets and Two Decades of Courtside Camaraderie
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New York — When the New York Knicks host the Brooklyn Nets at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, the matchup will double as a reunion for two coaches whose relationship began nearly 20 years ago.
Friends on Opposite Benches
Knicks head coach Mike Brown and Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez first crossed paths in 2009. Brown, then leading the Cleveland Cavaliers, discovered the Spanish-born Fernandez while visiting the Impact Basketball academy in Las Vegas. Impressed by Fernandez’s European-style training methods and rapport with players, Brown brought the young coach to Ohio as a Cavs intern and personal trainer for his son, Elijah.
“To see him sitting in that seat in Brooklyn while I’m in New York, it’s surreal,” Brown said.
Their friendship has now landed them on opposite sides of New York’s basketball divide. Brown shoulders championship expectations after Knicks owner James Dolan told WFAN the club “absolutely” must reach the NBA Finals and “should” win it. Across the East River, Nets general manager Sean Marks has prioritized future draft position, even reacquiring Brooklyn’s own 2025 and 2026 first-round picks two years ago. When the Nets recently won six of nine games behind improved defense, scouts joked that Fernandez was coaching “too well” for a roster designed to rebuild.
An Unlikely Journey
Back in Cleveland, Brown helped Fernandez settle in by lending him a car, a gas card and a room, while most meals came from the team’s practice facility. Uncle Mike Winger—then a Cavs assistant general manager and now president of the Washington Wizards—occasionally treated him to sushi Fernandez could not yet afford.
Fernandez earned a full-time player-development post in his second year, though his $35,000 salary now covered his own car and apartment. After Brown’s dismissal in 2010, the Cavaliers kept Fernandez on staff under head coach Byron Scott.
When Brown returned to the Cavs in 2013, Fernandez hoped to join his mentor’s bench. Instead, the organization steered him to an assistant role with its G League affiliate, the Canton Charge—a move Fernandez initially viewed as a demotion that also placed him an hour from Cleveland and his new girlfriend, Kelsey, now his wife.
The season proved transformational. Working alongside head coach Steve Hetzel, Fernandez gained extensive responsibility and later succeeded Hetzel when he left for the Charlotte Hornets. The Charge post set up six seasons as an assistant with the Denver Nuggets, then a reunion with Brown in 2022 as associate head coach of the Sacramento Kings. Sacramento’s surprising 48-win campaign earned Brown NBA Coach of the Year honors and further elevated Fernandez’s profile.
International Highlights
Brown led Nigeria’s national team to a berth in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and an exhibition upset of Team USA, with Fernandez on his staff. Fernandez later guided Canada to its first FIBA World Cup medal, a bronze in 2023.
Tonight’s Stakes
The longtime confidants continue to lean on each other. Fernandez served as a sounding board during Brown’s interview process with the Knicks last summer, and both men hope to arrange a double date soon—although not on game night.
“The New York media treats the Knicks a little differently than the Nets,” Fernandez said. “Mike’s got a different level of pressure. But one thing about him, he’s always up for the challenge.”
Brown returned the praise: “He’s done a fantastic job getting them to play as hard as they can while growing for the future.”
On Wednesday, the future meets the present when their teams share the Garden floor.
Source: ESPN
