Alabama men’s basketball has hired Chris Fleming as its third assistant coach, UA’s NIL collective Yea Alabama announced Wednesday.
Fleming has spent the past decade as an NBA assistant, most recently with the Portland Trailblazers. He joins Preston Murphy and Brian Adams as assistants to Nate Oats.
Fleming will replace Ryan Pannone on the staff after Pannone left this offseason to become the head coach of Arkansas State.
The hire of Fleming marks the third consecutive assistant Oats has hired from the NBA. Pannone had most recently been with the New Orleans Pelicans and Brian Adams was with the Detroit Pistons.
Fleming became a free agent this offseason after his contract was not renewed with the Trailblazers.
Prior to joining the Trailblazers in 2024, Fleming served as an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls starting in 2019. He first worked under Jim Boylen in Chicago before Fleming was retained by Billy Donovan in 2020.
Before Fleming arrived in Chicago, he spent three seasons as an assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets. That followed his start in the NBA when he was hired as an assistant with the Denver Nuggets.
Fleming started his coaching career in Germany, where he spent 14 years as a head coach. His efforts with the Brose Baskets earned him German League Coach of the Year in 2011. His success includes winning four German Cup championships and three Supercup championships.
Fleming is from New Jersey. As a basketball player, he played for UConn but is most known for his time with Richmond. Two of those teams over three years made the NCAA Tournament.
