Jordi Fernández says this could be Julius Randle’s best playmaking year — and only Jokić compares to his nine-assist half

BROOKLYN — Oct. 14, 2026 — Jordi Fernández has a specific bet on Julius Randle’s first season with the Brooklyn Nets, and it is not about scoring. Early in training camp, the Nets coach said this could be the best passing year of the three-time All-Star’s career. Three preseason games in, Randle has given him a half of basketball to point to.

“I think that this could be [Julius’] best playmaking year,” Fernández said. “He’s proven that he’s a very efficient player at very different levels. Seasons with the Knicks when he shot eight-plus threes, seasons where he’s isolated more, been in the pick-and-roll more, [he’s shown] his ability to playmake. And you put all those things together, for me as a coach, being able to use somebody in many different ways, it makes my life easier. I think that he will make his teammates better.”

Nine assists in one half

Monday’s 131-122 win over the Washington Wizards was the clearest example yet. Randle finished with 14 points and nine assists, and all nine assists came in the first half. Through three exhibitions he is averaging 8.0 assists per 36 minutes, according to figures compiled by Nets beat writer Erik Slater, and Brooklyn is 3-0.

Fernández reached for the biggest comparison available afterward. “[Julius’] ability to throw the ball on time and on target to his teammates is unbelievable,” he said. “Nine assists in one half of basketball is not something many players can do. I haven’t seen it many times in my life. I think the only one I’ve seen is Nikola [Jokić]. And I know it’s a preseason game, but you’ve got to give him a lot of credit.”

The more useful part of his answer was about everyone else. “All those passes were right in the pocket, and his teammates made those shots,” Fernández said. “It was good to see that when he gets to a post-up or an ISO, everybody is making themselves available in the right spot because otherwise, you create more turnovers with poor spacing. But Julius was aggressive to score or make the right pass at the right time.”

Egor + Julius DHO ➡️ pocket pass ➡️ kickout for MPJ three

Nets running good offense early. pic.twitter.com/SzBS53EJWH

— Erik Slater (@ErikSlater_) October 12, 2026

Not just isolation passing

The possession above is the version of Randle the Nets are building toward: a Dëmin–Randle dribble handoff flows into a pocket pass and then a kickout to Michael Porter Jr. for three, with nobody holding the ball. Randle said in camp that the system gives him more than one route to the same outcome.

“I’ll playmake for sure. I think that’s always going to be a big part of my game,” Randle said. “I think here I have some versatility with how I can do it. It’s not just isolation playmaking. I can playmake through the pocket. I can playmake in the post. I can playmake cutting. So it’s different ways through the flow of the offense that I’ll be able to do it.” He added that he expects it to be “even heightened here with the system and how Jordi does things.”

Why Brooklyn needs it

The bar is real. Randle’s best assist season came with the New York Knicks in 2020-21, when he averaged 6.0 assists in 37.6 minutes a night. Over the past six seasons he has averaged 22.1 points, 8.8 rebounds and 5.0 assists on .459/.341/.785 shooting, and Slater noted that only Jokić, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Dončić have matched 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists on 45 percent shooting over that span.

In Brooklyn, the creation load is heavier than it was in New York or Minnesota. The Nets’ lead guards are all in their first or second NBA seasons — Dëmin, Nolan Traoré and rookie Mikel Brown Jr. — so a 32-year-old forward who can create out of the post, isolations, handoffs and the pick-and-roll is the steadiest organizer on the roster. The shooting around him helps: Porter is a career 39.8 percent three-point shooter on 10.7 attempts per 100 possessions, Dëmin shot 38.5 percent as a rookie and Keon Ellis is at 40.7 percent for his career.

Fernández is also spreading the creation around. As Keith Smith pointed out, Day’Ron Sharpe has been allowed to start possessions above the break and flow into handoffs with Porter instead of being parked in the dunker spot, which leaves more room in the paint when the ball finds Randle.

What’s next

Fernández kept the same starting five — Dëmin, Ellis, Porter, Randle and Sharpe — for Wednesday’s preseason finale at Miami, with Brown making his Nets debut off the bench on a minutes restriction alongside Traoré, Noah Clowney, Chaney Johnson and Moe Wagner. Brooklyn opens the regular season Oct. 21 at home against the Charlotte Hornets. The number worth tracking then is not one big half, but whether Randle’s assists hold up when defenses stop sitting in preseason coverages.

More on WhyNBA: Porter scores 22 as the Nets beat the Wizards to stay unbeaten in preseason.