Jordi Fernandez, head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, informed Team Canada that he will step down from his coaching role. He has been coaching Canada\u2019s men\u2019s national basketball team since 2023. Fernandez stepping down from Canada comes after leading its most successful men\u2019s basketball program.<\/p>\n
Fernandez replaced Nick Nurse as coach of Canada\u2019s men\u2019s basketball team. He led Canada to a bronze medal at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Their win qualified them for the 2024 Paris Olympics. This was their first appearance since 2000, and their second since 1998. Canada went 3-0 in the group stage and reached the quarterfinals, where they lost to France.<\/p>\n
Team Canada\u2019s 2024 Olympic roster under Fernandez included NBA players Shai Gilegeous-Alexander<\/a> (Oklahoma City Thunder), Nickeil Alexander-Walker<\/a> (Minnesota Timberwolves), R.J. Barrett<\/a> (Toronto Raptors), Dillon Brooks<\/a> (Houston Rockets), Luguentz Dort<\/a> (Thunder), Trey Lyles (Sacramento Kings), Jamal Murray<\/a> (Denver Rockets), Andrew Nembhard<\/a> (Indiana Pacers), Kelly Olynyk<\/a> (Toronto Raptors) and Dwight Powell<\/a> (Dallas Mavericks).<\/p>\n Prior to his time with Team Canada, Fernandez was the assistant coach for the Spanish national team under Sergio Scariolo of the Euroleague. He also served as the assistant coach for the Nigerian national team under Mike Brown, the former coach of the Sacramento Kings.<\/p>\n Michael Granger<\/a> of Sportsnet Canada broke the news of Fernandez\u2019s decision to step down. He reported that Fernandez had previously voiced concerns about maintaining his dual roles citing strain on his family. However, according to Granger, Fernandez expressed just last month that he planned to continue as head coach, focusing on the 2027 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics.<\/p>\n Michael Barlett, the Chief Executive officer of Canada basketball has not issued a statement. Therefore, it is not clear what Canada\u2019s next steps will be as they move forward. They will need to find a replacement who can continue the program’s success and prepare the team for 2027 and 2028. Fernandez has definitely left a mark.<\/p>\n When Fernandez was asked about his resignation<\/a>, he said, \u201cIn fairness to Canada basketball, I want them to make the announcement,\u201d also \u201cAnd once they do, I\u2019ll be able to answer all your questions.\u201d<\/p>\n While Fernandez stepping down from coaching Team Canada is a surprise, it is understandable. He may just want to focus on leading the Nets. Despite the Nets not being playoff contenders this season, Fernandez has gained respect as a first-year<\/a> coach in the NBA. He has been tasked with leading<\/a> a rebuilding Nets team. He has had to balance the team chemistry and adjust the roster. The Nets have a 17-34 record, and the season has been filled with injuries, trades, and rumors. However, the Nets players have expressed their confidence in Fernandez\u2019s ability to lead.<\/p>\n While everyone waits to see what the Nets\u2019 roster will look like next season, Fernandez will have a lot of work ahead of him. Resigning from Team Canada will give him more time to focus and prepare.<\/p>\n We now wait for an official statement from Team Canada and Fernandez.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Photo Credit: \u00a9 Kyle Terada-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jordi Fernandez, head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, informed Team Canada that he will step down from his coaching role. He has been coaching Canada\u2019s men\u2019s national basketball team since 2023. Fernandez stepping down from Canada comes after leading its most successful men\u2019s basketball program. Nets Coach Resigns From Coaching Canada\u2019s Men\u2019s Basketball Team Fernandez […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5340,"featured_media":122241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,6,62],"tags":[950,772,159,109,49161,517,3838,947,1964,1489,2154],"class_list":["post-122194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nets","category-nba","tag-andrew-nembhard","tag-dillon-brooks","tag-dwight-powell","tag-jamal-murray","tag-jordi-fernandez","tag-kelly-olynyk","tag-lugentz-dort","tag-nickeil-alexander-walker","tag-rj-barrett","tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","tag-trey-lyles"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5340"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122194"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122256,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122194\/revisions\/122256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fernandez Stepping Down From Canada<\/h3>\n
Focus on the Nets<\/h3>\n