The Angolan center had a strong close to his 2023-24 season.
Around 12 months ago, there was some uncertainty as to whether Fernando would be even on the roster for 2023-24. Having returned to Atlanta in February of 2023 in a trade with the Houston Rockets, one that also brought in Garrison Mathews, the Hawks had to decide whether to guarantee the center’s salary that summer.
They did, but only after a brief delay as the Hawks restructured their frontcourt without John Collins after the start of free agency.
Fernando began the season like he did all of his previous seasons as a Hawk, save his rookie year in 2019-20, by barely seeing minutes — unless of course the outcome of the game had already been decided. From the start of the season until February 5, Fernando only saw at least eight minutes in any game three times.
But due to injuries to Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu down the stretch of 2023-24, Fernando became the nominal backup center. He averaged 18.7 minutes per game across the final 33 games of the season, only failing to appear in one game total from February 5 to the end of the season.
Fernando talked about that playing time uncertainty at exit interviews, saying, “being able to be ready at all times. When you look back all the way to September when we started training camp until February really when Clint [Capela] got hurt. I got an opportunity to step out there and play. There wasn’t really much going for me. […] I was just always continuously out here working and figuring out ways to stay engaged and better myself.”
He displayed a strong mastery of the dribble-handoff-orientated offense that Quin Snyder has worked to implement in his first full season as head coach. His skill and footwork in the paint sometimes made defenders look absolutely foolish, like in a career-high 25-point night against the Charlotte Hornets in March.
Fernando has also become well-versed in the minutiae of the little things in the modern NBA. He set powerful screens and used his roll gravity to threaten defenses constantly. Though not the tallest center ever, his combination of strength and motor meant nothing was ever easy for opposing post players.
While being undersized at 6-foot-9 limits his ability to contest at the rim defensively – and he has a tendency to get lost in space (along with much of the rest of the roster on that side of the ball) – he was one of the better third centers in the league last season. It was clearly a luxury to have Fernando available when injuries struck, including in the fateful Play-In Tournament game against the Chicago Bulls
All in all, Fernando averaged 6.3 points and 4.3 rebounds on 15.2 minutes per game, including 60% shooting from inside the arc and a 62% true shooting percentage.
As for his outlook this summer, he is focused on international play in the days ahead. “One of the things that I realized early on about myself is that I’ve got to continue to stay in shape,” remarked the center. “As a big, that’s probably one of the main things, just to stay in shape. It’s going to help obviously because I have national team stuff [with the Angolan basketball team] to do for the Olympic qualifiers this summer.”
For next season, Fernando has an unguaranteed contract worth about $2.7 million with a decision date of June 29, just a couple of days after the conclusion of the draft (with the possibility that that date gets pushed back once again). With the Hawks widely expected to select a big with the number one overall pick in a month, that may signal his departure from the Hawks for a second time.