SALT LAKE CITY — Fotis Katsikaris is joining the Utah Jazz as an assistant coach. He's the first native Greek to be hired as a coach in the NBA.
Katsikaris comes to the Jazz from Iberostar Tenerife, where he was the head coach.
Katsikaris previously served as head coach of the Greek National Team from 2014-16 and was named the 2013 EuroCup Coach of the Year.
He also coached at Bilbao Basket, Valencia Basket, Lokomotiv Kuban, Dynamo St. Petersburg, Hapoel Jerusalem, AEK Athens, Ucam Murcia, Iberostar Tenerife and Aris B.C.
Katsikaris played professionally in Greece from 1982 to 1998. FIBA Hall of Fame coach Dusan Ivkovic and former BYU player Kresimir Cosic are some of his biggest influences, Katsikaris said.
He joins Johnnie Bryant, Alex Jensen, Antonio Lang and Mike Wells as Quin Snyder's team of assistant coaches. A position opened up in May when Igor Kokoskov left the Jazz to take the head coaching position with the Phoenix Suns.
Utah is known for its diversity as the squad entered this past season tied with Philadelphia with a NBA-high eight international players on the roster.