Keon Ellis is already looking like Jordi Fernández’s kind of player

Keon Ellis is one week into his first Nets training camp, and Jordi Fernández is already seeing what he expected.

“He’s got the best hands in the NBA, and that’s hard to teach,” Jordi Fernández said at Friday’s practice. “At the same time, you want to be disciplined and follow the schemes, whatever the game plan is. I trust him. I know he’s very diligent with his work and everything, and I know he can perform at a high level. He’s going to help us a lot at the defensive end.”

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The connection between Ellis and Fernández goes back to Sacramento, where the two were together from 2022-24 while Fernández worked under then-Kings head coach Mike Brown. That familiarity was part of what made Brooklyn an appealing destination for Ellis this offseason, when the Nets signed him to a two-year, $18 million contract with a full mutual option for the second season.

“You have a guy with many intangibles, is a super pro. He has probably the best hands in the NBA, can shoot the ball, can handle, is a good human,” the Nets coach said. “He’s coming here and is about business. It was a no-brainer.”

Ellis knows the mutual respect benefits both of them.

“In this game — and it is a business — having someone like Jordi being the head coach, someone you’re familiar with, [is big]. You know all the schemes, you know what he’s about, you know what they want to run,” Ellis said Friday after practice. “It’s a safe space right there. He’s familiar with my game, I’m familiar with how he rocks. That was the No. 1 thing.”

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He added, “He [Jordi] knows how I play, and I know how he wants his team to play. I know I can have a big impact in that way.”

Ellis enters Brooklyn coming off a season in which he averaged 6.7 points while splitting time between Sacramento and Cleveland following a February trade. He also shot 36.3% from three last season after hitting on 42.9% over his first three NBA seasons.

“It’s not for me to say [how much of an impact he will make],” Fernandez said. “It’s for me to believe every time he guards he’s going to be good on that player, and every time he shoots the ball, I believe it’s going to go…

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Publish date : 2026-10-03 17:45:00

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