Where’s Whitehead As Nets Play Out String? Fernandez Fumbled Answer
I have a tiny bone to pick with Nets Head Coach Jordi Fernandez, and it’s not the one the pro-tanking segment thinks.
Those folks are fuming that Fernandez, unlike his counterpart in Toronto who pulled his veterans in Sunday’s fourth quarter to turn a big lead into a three-point loss to Portland for marginally better odds in the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery, had Cam Johnson play 36 minutes on the back end of a back-to-back, which helped the Nets defeat the out-to-Happy-Hour Hawks, 122-114. The reverse standings show that Brooklyn (23-45) remains in fifth place, a half-game “up” on Philadelphia while the Raptors moved to within one game.
To me, that’s a been-there, done-that diatribe. Fernandez, as he should as an NBA rookie who is trying to rebuild a team’s lost culture and identity, is coaching these guys to win, and disregarded players on expiring deals are overcoming their talent deficits with effort plays. When a team like Atlanta leaves its defense at the hotel, cue the Tony Soprano GIF: “What are ya gonna do?”
No, I have a different beef. I acknowledge that this is a minor quibble when you consider how refreshing it’s been to see this club buy in to its HC, but I heard Fernandez respond to a question from ClutchPoints.com’s Erik Slater during the pregame press conference on the status of sophomore wing Dariq Whitehead, and I did a double take. Whitehead, Brooklyn’s No. 22 overall pick in the 2023 Draft whose pro career has been full of fits and starts due to multiple injuries, has remained at G League Long Island while Fernendez’s squad is playing out a string of another 14 meaningless games. Whitehead has played a grand total of 2:28 for Brooklyn since January 22.
With Cam Thomas out for the season after suffering a hamstring setback in the final minute of the Nets loss in Chicago on Thursday, some might have hoped it would have opened a door for Whitehead to showcase his development. Though things could change, it doesn’t appear imminent.
There are a number of legitimate reasons Fernandez had at his disposal to easily explain this situation. My favorite would have been if he pumped the players who have been getting those minutes in Whitehead’s stead. It happens to be true. NBA court time is earned; they’re not a privilege of Draft pedigree. Fernandez could have used the opportunity to praise unheralded guys like Keon Johnson, Tyrese Martin, and, most recently, Maxwell Lewis, all of whom play Whitehead’s position.
Lewis has come back strong from a fractured left tibia sustained in his first minute of action as a Net on January 1 following his trade from the Lakers, scoring 25 points in 38 minutes over Brooklyn’s last two games. At the time of the trade, Lewis was a Charles Barkley “Who he play for?” candidate who had totaled 15 points in his NBA career. Now, Fernandez could make a case that he’d like to see more of Lewis, just 22 and on a partial guarantee for next season, going forward.
Or Fernandez could have used the organization’s ready-made excuse regarding return-to-play protocols. Whitehead’s latest malady, a knee injury incurred during a February 25 G League meeting versus Westchester, forced him to miss Long Island’s next four games. Considering the multiple lower-body surgeries he’s had to undergo since a terrible foot injury during his sole year at Duke, not to mention a procedure to address a stress reaction in his left shin that prematurely ended his rookie campaign last January, the current conservatism has a medical foundation.
Whitehead has been active for Long Island’s last three contests, and that ramp up didn’t exactly send Nets management a notice that he was ready for a step-up in level—in regular rotation minutes, he averaged 13 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists on a 41.7/35/50 shooting split. In December, he told Slater that he needed the heavier G League reps to accelerate his prior rehab as opposed to seeing sporadic NBA minutes.
During his rare garbage time appearances for Brooklyn this season, Whitehead showed improved marksmanship from deep, but his movements still seemed rather stiff. Though 6-foot 6 and 220 pounds with a 6-foot 10 wingspan, his ability to defend remains a mystery. Can he match the lesser-known guys’ in-your-face guarding techniques that Fernendez requires for court time?
Fernandez needn’t have gotten into any negatives, but he could have emphasized that Whitehead’s story isn’t finished at 20. The Nets previously exercised their option for the third year of his rookie contract, guaranteeing him approximately $3.26 million for next season. 2026-27 also has a team option. So there is no need to rush, especially when Whitehead’s presence isn’t needed at the moment.
While Fernandez briefly touched on the last part in that his club would certainly call Whithead up if it was severely shorthanded (they had nine available players on Sunday), most of Fernandez’s response to Slater’s query was staking a claim that it would be more beneficial to the organization if Whitehead was utilized to help Long Island in a playoff push.
Say what? So if Whitehead was killing it on Long Island the way Noah Clowney did at the tail end of last season, the Nets would have still prioritized a minor league playoff seed (Long Island is two games out but has three teams to jump with six games to play) over the appropriate player development process?
Sorry, though I don’t remember how Long Island fared last season, I warmly recall the growth Clowney displayed over his last 11 games with Brooklyn. Seeing him drain 3s when he was a mess during that prior year’s NBA Summer League was one of the season’s few highlights.
Nets fans have had even less to get excited about this season, for even the wins tick off the pro-tankers, so a Whitehead replication of Clowney’s path was seen as an opportunity to end things on a sweeter note. The reason why it hasn’t happened yet should have been a Keon Johnson slam dunk for Fernandez, not one of Day’Ron Sharpe’s missed bunnies.