NEW YORK -- Brooklyn Nets assistant coach Juwan Howard has been a vital member of head coach Jordi Fernandez's coaching staff since Fernandez came to the Nets ahead of the 2024-25 season looking to turn the franchise around. Brooklyn has been in the midst of a rebuild since Fernandez left the Sacramento Kings to take his first head-coaching job and Howard seems to be getting some of the credit as to why.
In the NBA general manager survey for the 2026-27 season, Howard received votes from some of the decision-makers around the league as the best assistant. Usually, the coaches that are considered great assistants either go on to be head-coaches at some point in their career or have already been head-coaches and can help out in different ways, such as Los Angeles Clippers assistant Jeff Van Gundy.
Howard began his NBA coaching career during the 2013-14 season when he was a member of Erik Spoelstra's coaching staff with the Miami Heat and remained in that role until after the 2018-19 campaign. After that, Howard became the head coach for the University of Michigan where he had a successful start to his tenure before being let go at the end of the 2023-24 season following a 8-24 record.
Since coming to the Nets, Howard has been one of the people that Fernandez has talked about, especially when it comes to how valuable his coaching experience has been to his success. "Juwan is very important for me because he allows me to coach the way I coach, and because I feel supported by him 1,000%. Obviously, his relationship with the players and the players that he's been with just makes me a better coach," Fernandez said of Howard in last year's training camp.
The hope for Howard, Fernandez, and the rest of the coaching staff is that the Nets break through at some point so that they can not only keep their jobs, but also potentially have other doors opened for any of them. Howard, who had quite the extensive playing career that included him making the All-Star Game, has been using his knowledge to make an impact on Fernandez's coaching staff and some around the league are recognizing it.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets' Juwan Howard receives votes for best assistant coach in the NBA