Ettore Messina returns to NBA with Atlanta Hawks

A fresh consulting role in Atlanta

Ettore Messina is heading back to the NBA as a consultant with the Atlanta Hawks after wrapping up several years leading and running basketball operations in Milan. The 66-year-old will split his time between work with the Hawks’ coaching staff in Georgia and commitments in Italy, where he’ll appear as a basketball analyst on television.

Part of what makes this move notable is the reunion with head coach Quin Snyder: Snyder spent the 2012–13 season learning under Messina while serving as his primary assistant at CSKA. That shared history should make for an easy fit as Messina steps into a consultant role on Atlanta’s bench.

Plenty of experience on both sides of the Atlantic

Messina isn’t new to the NBA world. He previously consulted for the Los Angeles Lakers during the Mike Brown period and spent five seasons (2014–2019) as a top assistant to Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs, even filling in as acting head coach on several occasions. Those stops gave him a deep familiarity with the league’s daily grind and coaching culture.

Before and between his NBA work, Messina built one of the most decorated coaching résumés in European basketball. He has four EuroLeague titles — two with Virtus (1998 and 2001) and two with CSKA (2006 and 2008) — and helped Milan reach the EuroLeague Final Four in 2021 while serving as both head coach and President of Basketball Operations. In recent weeks he’d been linked to potential projects back in Italy, but he opted to return to the United States and join the Hawks’ staff for the coming season.