After ending his multi-year tenure as head coach and front-office executive at Milano, Ettore Messina is set to return to the world’s premier basketball league.
According to the reputable Italian newspaper “La Repubblica”, the 66-year-old tactician is taking on a consultant role within the Atlanta Hawks coaching staff. This engagement marks the beginning of a unique season for the decorated coach, who will split his expertise between the United States and his homeland, where he will simultaneously serve as a basketball analyst on Italian television.
Reuniting with Quin Snyder in Atlanta
Messina’s move to Georgia brings about a reunion between two long-time colleagues. Atlanta Hawks head coach Quin Snyder spent the 2012/13 season learning under Messina as his primary assistant at CSKA, prior to returning to the NBA to build his own head coaching career with the Utah Jazz and Atlanta Hawks.
This assignment is far from Messina’s first experience in the NBA environment. He previously served as a consultant for the Los Angeles Lakers during the Mike Brown era, and later spent five seasons (2014–2019) as Gregg Popovich’s top assistant with the San Antonio Spurs, where he frequently stepped in as acting head coach for official games in Popovich’s absence.
🏀The legendary coach returns to the NBA.
— Basketball Sphere (@BSphere_) September 13, 2026
🏀After consulting for the Lakers and serving as an assistant coach for the Spurs, Ettore Messina returns to the NBA, this time as a consultant for the Atlanta Hawks. pic.twitter.com/9PIUow9hdI
A championship resume and the Rome connection
Messina arrives in Atlanta as one of the most decorated coaching figures in European basketball history. His storied resume boasts four EuroLeague titles, two with Virtus in 1998 and 2001, and two with CSKA in 2006 and 2008. During his five-year stint with Milano, where he served simultaneously as head coach and President of Basketball Operations, he guided the team back to the EuroLeague Final Four in 2021 for the first time in nearly three decades.
In recent weeks, Italian media linked Messina to potential leadership roles for new basketball projects in Rome, tied to prospective EuroLeague expansion and the “NBA Europe” initiative. However, rather than building a new system in his home country, the veteran strategist has chosen a direct return across the Atlantic to join the Hawks’ bench.
