The Atlanta Hawks have added three more names to Quin Snyder’s coaching setup, bringing in Jason Love, Ettore Messina and Sergi Oliva as the organization continues to reshape its basketball operation ahead of the 2026-2027 season.
Love arrives from Milwaukee, where he served as an assistant coach with the Bucks. He played at Xavier from 2006 to 2010 and also spent five seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers before joining the Bucks.
Messina is the headliner in the group. Atlanta brought him in as a coaching consultant, giving Snyder access to one of the most accomplished coaches in European basketball.
As a head coach in Europe, Messina won four EuroLeague championships, captured multiple Italian and Russian league titles, coached the Italian national team to a silver medal at EuroBasket 1997, and picked up numerous Coach of the Year honors. The exact day-to-day responsibilities of the consultant role are not known, but the Hawks will have a highly decorated voice in the room.
Oliva was hired as a basketball strategy and development advisor after spending the last four seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers as assistant general manager and G League head coach. He also previously spent six seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers.
These moves come amid a broader wave of turnover across Atlanta’s front office and coaching staff since last season. Bryson Graham left after one season to take the lead executive job with the Chicago Bulls.
Kyle Korver also moved on a few weeks ago, and the Hawks responded by promoting Peter Dinwiddie to the No. 2 role as executive vice president of basketball operations. The organization also brought in former ESPN analyst Tim Bontemps as a senior advisor and elevated Maxwell Kupchak to director of cap strategy & player personnel.
On the bench, former assistant coach Ronald Nored left before the season even ended to become the head coach at Butler, his alma mater.
Whether all of these changes pay off on the floor is still an open question, but the direction from ownership is clear. The Hawks have shown faith in the vision of Onsi Saleh and Quin Snyder, giving both men contract extensions. Saleh also received the title of President of Basketball Operations after finishing as the runner up for executive of the year last season.
In Other News...
Hawks Camp Will Decide Whether This New Roster Can Keep Up
Training camp is about to sort out a Hawks roster that looks meaningfully different, but still has plenty to prove before anyone can call it settled. Atlanta is leaning hard into internal development this fall, with a mix of draft picks Kingston Flemings, Zuby Ejiofor and Henri Veesaar joining a group that also includes re-signed and newly acquired veterans such as CJ McCollum, Jock Landale, Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Ryan Nembhard. In a loaded Eastern Conference, the emphasis is less on splashy roster reinvention and more on figuring out how quickly the pieces can fit together.
The biggest questions are the kinds that usually linger well into October: who starts, who comes off the bench, and which bigs can claim minutes at power forward and center. Atlanta will use camp to see how the new additions blend with the holdovers, and whether the roster has enough balance and depth to keep pace without a blockbuster move rescuing it later. For a team trying to climb in a hurry, the answers in camp could matter almost as much as the ones that come once the games begin. [Read more 🡒]
Hawks May Need One Midseason Swing If The Offense Stalls
Atlanta entered the 2026-27 season with a familiar look in the starting five and a bench that got a little deeper thanks to Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins and the return of Jock Landale. In a loaded Eastern Conference, though, that kind of continuity can cut both ways. The Hawks are betting that their core can hold its ground, even as a number of rivals spent the offseason trying to separate themselves with bigger swings and more dramatic upgrades.
If the offense ends up needing a jolt by midseason, Brandon Ingram is the sort of name that would make sense on Atlantas radar. He brings the kind of scoring wing presence that can change a game when possessions get sticky, and his contract situation gives any interested team a clearer path to weighing the cost. For now, the Hawks are still in the prove-it phase, but a quiet first half could quickly turn the trade deadline into a more aggressive search for help. [Read more 🡒]
Hawks Face A Starting Lineup Debate That Could Reshape The Rotation
Atlantas roster reshuffle has turned the starting five into one of the more interesting questions of the upcoming season, with the team weighing how best to balance offense, defense and fit around a newly crowded backcourt. The collection of CJ McCollum, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels and Lu Dort gives the Hawks plenty of lineup combinations to sort through, and the right answer may depend on whether they want to lean into scoring punch or build a group that can hold up better on the other end.
Lu Dort stands out as the most natural candidate to crack the opening group because of what he brings on the perimeter and the experience he has in bigger games, but any change like that comes with ripple effects. If the Hawks decide to prioritize defense at the top of the rotation, it could force another established guard into a different role and reshape the second unit in a way that changes the balance of the entire bench. [Read more 🡒]