Palestinian coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah joins USA Basketball
The former Houston Rockets' assistant coach's new role was announced last February
Mahmoud Abdelfattah was hired by USA Basketball to scout and be an assistant coach for last February’s AmeriCup qualifying team.
Team USA went 5-1 and sealed its bid to the 2025 AmeriCup tournament which will be held in Managua, Nicaragua in August.
Abdelfattah’s coaching career began in Chicago, but after winning a NBA G-League championship with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and being named G-League Head Coach of the Year (2021-22) his stock rose exponentially.
His success led him to become the head coach of the Sydney Kings (Australia’s National Basketball League) for the 2023-24 season, after spending the year before as assistant coach of the Houston Rockets.
He was the first Palestinian coach to achieve those feats and his new role proves he’s still valued in the basketball community, despite how things went with the Kings.
The Sydney Kings had won back-to-back NBL championships before Abdelfattah was hired, which might have opened him up to unfair expectations in his first year with the team.
The Kings’ decision makers didn’t give Abdelfattah more than a season to prove himself. He was let go after the team did not make the playoffs but the family man with strong faith quickly landed a new job back in the United States.
I haven’t interviewed Abdelfattah since I wrote a feature about him for Palestine in America’s Sports Edition, which was published April 2020. I was privileged enough to talk to him after a G-League game in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It was clear he was a man who valued his family and his faith.
Abdelfattah was gracious with his time that evening, even though he had more than three dozen family members—who made the drive from Chicago to support him—waiting to take pictures and congratulate him. Despite the Vipers losing to the Wisconsin Heard that night, Abdelfattah was a winner in their eyes.
I encourage you to read what I wrote about him almost five years ago. I’ll be reaching out to Abdelfattah to follow up on his inspiring basketball journey.
