The Hawks named Jason Love, Ettore Messina and Sergi Oliva to roles on head coach Quin Snyder’s staff for the 2026-27 season.
ATLANTA – The Atlanta Hawks today announced the addition of three respected, veteran coaches to Head Coach Quin Snyder’s coaching and development staff. Jason Love has been hired as an assistant coach; European basketball coaching legend Ettore Messina has joined Snyder’s staff as a coaching consultant and veteran executive and coach Sergi Oliva has been hired as a basketball strategy and development advisor.
Love comes to Atlanta after spending the past two seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks as an assistant coach/player development. Prior to Milwaukee, Love spent five seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers, starting as a player development associate in 2019, before earning promotions to skill development coach in 2021, and assistant coach in 2023. A native of Philadelphia, Pa., Love played college basketball at Xavier University (2006-10) where he holds the record as the Musketeers’ all-time leader in wins (108), later playing professionally overseas for seven seasons.
Messina, one of the most accomplished and respected coaches in European basketball history, returns to the NBA and reunites with Snyder, who served as an assistant under Messina for CSKA Moscow. Over a career spanning more than four decades, he won four EuroLeague championships, capturing titles with Virtus Bologna (1998, 2001) and CSKA Moscow (2006, 2008). He also claimed multiple Italian and Russian league championships, coached the Italian national team to a silver medal at EuroBasket 1997, and earned numerous Coach of the Year honors. In addition to his European resume, Messina has NBA experience having served as a consultant with the Los Angeles Lakers (2011-12) and as an assistant coach with San Antonio Spurs (2014-19). He is a member of the FIBA Hall of Fame.
Oliva spent the last four seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers as assistant general manager while also serving as head coach of the Rip City Remix of the NBA G League in 2024-25. Previously, he worked as an assistant coach with the Utah Jazz under Snyder for two seasons (2020-22). Prior to that, he spent six years with the Philadelphia 76ers, finishing as vice president of strategy. A native of Gelida, Catalonia, Spain, Oliva combines extensive coaching, analytics and front-office experience, having also spent 12 years as a head coach at the youth and amateur levels in Spain. He holds a Ph.D. in Computational Complexity from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.
