Neven Spahija

Neven Spahija (born 6 November 1962) is a Croatian professional basketball coach, who is currently the head coach for Reyer Venezia of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and the EuroCup. He spent four years in the NBA as an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks and Memphis Grizzlies.

Coaching career

Club career Spahija started his basketball coaching career with Gradine Pula from Croatia and Olimpija Ljubljana from Slovenia, working as an assistant coach. He started his head coaching career with Cibona from Croatia, where he won his first league championship in 2001. He then worked with Krka Novo Mesto from Slovenia, Avtodor Saratov from Russia, Lietuvos rytas from Lithuania, Maccabi Tel Aviv from Israel, and Baskonia and Valencia from Spain.

From 2010 to 2012, he was the head coach of Turkish team Fenerbahçe Ülker. In June 2013, he was named the head coach of Cibona, for the next four years. In November 2013, he parted ways with Cibona.

On 4 August 2014, Spahija was hired by the Atlanta Hawks, to be their assistant coach.

On 26 June 2017, Spahija returned to Maccabi Tel Aviv for a second stint, signing a 2+1-year contract. In the 2017–18 season, Spahija led Maccabi to win the 2017–18 Israeli League championship. On 18 November 2018, he parted ways with the club after four consecutive losses and a 1–6 start to the 2018–19 EuroLeague season.

In August 2019, Spahija was hired by the Memphis Grizzlies, to be their assistant coach, where he spent the 2019–20 season. On 13 September 2020, Spahija left the Grizzlies to coach overseas. On 20 September, he signed as head coach of the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).

National team career Spahija led the senior Croatian national basketball team between 2001 and 2005, coaching them at the 2003 and 2005 European Championship tournaments.

Coaching record

EuroLeague