Mahmoud Abdelfattah is a Palestinian-American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

coach who is the head coach for the Sydney Kings of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL). He became the first ever Palestinian or Muslim head coach of a

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA) or

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

franchise when he served as head coach of the

Rio Grande Valley Vipers The Rio Grande Valley Vipers are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Edinburg, Texas, and are affiliated with the Houston Rockets. The Vipers play their home games at the Bert Ogden Arena. The Vipers have won fo ...

from 2019 to 2022.

Early life

Abdelfattah was born and raised in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, to parents who had immigrated from Palestine as part of the

1967 Palestinian exodus The 1967 Palestinian exodus refers to the flight of around 280,000 to 325,000 Palestinians out of the territories captured by Israel during and in the aftermath of the Six-Day War, including the demolition of the Palestinian villages of Imwas, ...

. He identifies as Palestinian and visited the territory as a child. Abdelfattah attended a private Muslim school until the eighth grade and then moved to the public system. Abdelfattah played basketball at Wilbur Wright College and was recruited to play at St. Cloud State University. He found his desire for coaching while at St. Cloud State when he realised that he would not be able to play in the

(NBA). He served as a student-assistant on the basketball team at the age of 21 and had his student debt covered by the school.

Coaching career

Abdelfattah began his coaching stint with Perspectives Charter Schools in 2011, serving as the assistant head coach for the team. In 2019, after spending his first season as assistant coach for the

and winning his first championship with the franchise, Abdelfattah was duly promoted to be the head coach of the team. Abdelfattah was named the NBA G League Coach of the Year for the 2021–22 season after leading the Vipers to a 24–10 record. The Vipers eventually would win another title. On July 3, 2022, the Houston Rockets hired Abdelfattah as an assistant coach. On June 21, 2023, Abdelfattah was hired as head coach of the Sydney Kings of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) for the 2023–24 season.

Head coaching record

As of April 19, 2022 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2019–20 , 42, , 15, , 27, , .357 , , align="center", ''Season canceled'' , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2020–21 , 15, , 9, , 6, , .600 , , align="center", Lost in Quarterfinals , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2021–22 , 35, , 25, , 10, , .714 , , align="center", Champions , -class="sortbottom" , align="center" colspan=2, Career, , 92, , , 49, , , 43, , .533, ,

Personal life

Abdelfattah is Muslim. He was only lightly religious during his early years but adjusted his attitude after the death of his mother from a heart attack when he was aged 19. Abdelfattah completed Hajj in 2019.

References

External links

Mahmoud Abdulfettah coaching profile at Rio Grande Valley VipersSt. Cloud State Huskies bio
Living people American men's basketball coaches American Muslims American people of Palestinian descent Basketball coaches from Illinois Guards (basketball) High school basketball coaches in Illinois Houston Rockets assistant coaches Rio Grande Valley Vipers coaches St. Cloud State Huskies men's basketball coaches St. Cloud State Huskies men's basketball players Sydney Kings coaches Wilbur Wright College alumni Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-basketball-bio-stub