G League Watch: Brooklyn Nets HC Jordi Fernández Watches Long Island Affiliate

The Long Island Nets picked up a 111-85 home win in front of Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernández on Tuesday.

Brooklyn’s affiliate team is now 7-10 for the G League regular season after its victory over the Windy City Bulls. The rare morning clash was part of Long Island’s Education Day. Drew Timme led the Nets with his first career triple-double of 23 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists.

One player of particular interest to Fernández was surely second-year swingman Dariq Whitehead. He added 20 points, finishing on 7-for-15 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 from three. The 20-year-old also contributed six rebounds.

Whitehead has been back in the G League with Long Island to end January and start February. He has four double-digit games over his last five, with his 20 against the Bulls being his best outing, but also some inefficient showings. Whitehead shot 3-for-14 against the Greensboro Swarm on Jan. 29 and 2-for-13 against the Birmingham Squadron on Feb. 3. Both games were losses for the Nets.

Another Long Island player that Fernández has experience with is Killian Hayes. The French point guard, who was once the No. 7 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, was with Brooklyn in preseason. However, a hip injury meant that Hayes never saw the court — and his time already served in the league with the Detroit Pistons made him ineligible for a two-way contract. Instead, he signed with Long Island, an unusual step down to the G League for a former top ten pick.

.@BrooklynNets head-coach Jordi Fernandez is in the house to support the @LongIslandNets! 💙 🤝 pic.twitter.com/sLvxIFN0Gi
— NBA G League (@nbagleague) February 11, 2025

Hayes had 11 points, four rebounds and eight assists against Windy City, although with an accompanying six turnovers. The 23-year-old had a bit of a sluggish start in the G League, but he has largely played very well since the turn of the year. Hayes had a triple-double on Jan. 3 or an 18-assist game on Jan. 24, but this was his least captivating performance in some time.

Following the Feb. 6 trade deadline in which Brooklyn stayed put, the only organizational move made was buying out Ben Simmons, who subsequently joined the LA Clippers. That removes yet another playmaker and ballhandler from the Nets roster, which isn’t exactly stocked there after the prior departures of Dennis Schröder and Shake Milton via trades.

The Nets could now convert a two-way player — Tyrese Martin seems like the likeliest candidate — to a standard contract, and then sign a new, third two-way (Reece Beekman and Tosan Evbuomwan are the others on the roster). That could very well be a guard in the G League. Tyson Etienne has been a standout for Long Island, although he isn’t a facilitator. Kendall Brown has been another consistent producer, but he's a non-shooting forward closer to the Evbuomwan mold.

Long Island’s next game is on Feb. 13 against the Maine Celtics. The NBA All-Star break from Feb. 14-16 will also put the G League on hold during those dates.

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