Nets Coach Jordi Fernández Gets Real About NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Jordi Fernández was hired as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets in April 2024, his first opportunity leading a team at the NBA level.

Before stepping into that role, however, Fernández took an uncommon detour — one that sent him halfway across the world to coach Team Canada during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Fernández had an opportunity to work with a bunch of talented basketball players, hoping to put the sport on the map in a country known for hockey. Among them was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who finished the previous NBA season as the MVP runner-up to Nikola Jokić.

On the court, SGA is putting up eye-popping scoring numbers that place him in the company of all-time great scorers like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Off it, while he’s often surrounded by teammates in postgame interviews, his impact is just as rooted in the relationships he builds with those closest to him.

"His family is very important to him," Fernández said. "He was a young man. The relationship that he has with his parents and also cousin, and the close family, and then seeing him becoming a father. I think that a lot of [what] he does is for his family. As a true competitor, he just tries to reach the highest level, and he does it because he's a creature of habit.

"He works really hard, and you see all his moves, and when you see it in the game, they look like perfect, because he works so many times, so many hours. I've seen him at 6 a.m. at the gym and his diligent work. He gets better not just on the court, but also with his PT and strength coach. All of those just make him elite."

Gilgeous-Alexander took his game to a new level the season after his Olympic run, helping the Oklahoma City Thunder win the 2025 NBA Finals while finishing the regular season as the league MVP.

The Olympics may differ from the NBA, but competing for your country gives players a chance to be part of something bigger than themselves, an experience that can shape leadership styles and sharpen their ability to handle pressure in the game’s biggest moments.

Bryant had a similar experience, galvanizing Team USA’s “Redeem Team” to a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing before going on to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to back-to-back championships.