First Croatian Coach in History at NBA All-Star Weekend in New York
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
When Croatian basketball coach Neven Spahija was named assistant coach of the Atlanta Hawks last August, he become the first Croat to ever coach in the NBA, now Spahija has created a bit more history…
Spahija will help lead the Eastern Conference team in the NBA All-Star weekend match, which will take place in New York on 14-15 February. Spahija will become the first ever Croatian to coach in the famous All-Star weekend. Spahija, who started his head coach career at Zagreb’s KK Cibona, where he won his first League Championship in 2001, and head coach Mike Budenholzer have led the Atlanta Hawks to the best win record so far in the Eastern Conference which has earned them a place coaching the Eastern Conference team at this year’s All-Star weekend.
Besides Cibona in Zagreb, Spahija has coached a number of clubs in Europe, including Slovenia’s KK Krka Novo Mesto, Avtodor Saratov from Russia, BC Lietuvos Rytas from Lithuania, Maccabi Tel Aviv from Israel, Tau Baskonia and Valencia Basket Club from Spain, and Fenerbahçe Ülker in Turkey.
