Jordi Fernández Torres, the first Spaniard to become an NBA coach, will be named the favorite son of Badalona (Barcelonès Nord) in an extraordinary session of the plenary session of the City Council that will take place this coming Saturday, November 9, at 7:00 p.m. in the session room of the town hall. The City Council wants to recognize Jordi Fernández “for his sporting career in which he has spread the name of the city of Badalona throughout the world.”
Jordi Fernández, born in 1982 in Badalona, is the head coach of the New York Brooklyn Nets franchise of the NBA, becoming the first Spaniard to lead a team in the best professional basketball league in the world. So far, only four people born outside the United States have coached a team.
A man from Badalona linked to basketball
Among the arguments for the appointment, it is recalled that Badalona, with a population of 225,957 inhabitants in 2023, has more than 4,000 federated athletes and technicians in the base category. In this sense, Jordi Fernández was one of those children who started as a player in the youth categories of Joventut up to cadet. At the age of 16 he began his career as an assistant coach to the Badalonés male cadet.
From there, his sports resume is as follows:
- Lower categories in Montgat, Badalonés, San José, Hospitalet, Lleida and Sarrià
- 2006-2009: Impact Basketball in Las Vegas (player development)
- 2009-2013: Player development and assistant to the Cleveland Cavaliers
- 2013: Assistant to the Spanish U-19 team
- 2013-2016: Assistant and head coach of the Canton Charge (G-League), Cavs affiliate
- 2016: Assistant to the Cleveland Cavaliers coaching staff (winning the ring in 2016)
- 2016-2022: Denver Nuggets assistant
- 2017: Assistant to the senior Spanish national team
- 2022-2024: Sacramento Kings Senior Assistant
- 2023 to present: Canada coach
- 2024: Coach of the Brooklyn Nets, basketball team, National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise based in the Brooklyn neighborhood of New York City. It participates in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the NBA.
Jordi Fernández from Badalona is the first Catalan to coach an NBA team
In his presentation, on April 24, as the new coach of the Brooklyn Nets, his first words were dedicated to his city: “I have been in the NBA for 15 years, but I was born and raised in Badalona. And I don’t know if you know it, but it is one of the best basketball cities in Europe, in the world. You can feel and experience basketball on the street. (…) It is my home and I will always return.”
The sporting and city values of which he has championed in each of his public statements mean that he complies with the honorific figure included in the Regulations governing the Granting of Honors and Distinctions in force in the Badalona City Council.
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