Nate Oats Hires New Basketball Assistant Coach

Nate Oats and the Alabama men's basketball team have officially hired Chris Fleming, dipping back into the NBA for the Tide's latest assistant coach addition.

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Fleming has been a long-time NBA assistant coach, recently serving as an assistant for the Portland Trailblazers in the 2024-25 season. Before his time in Portland, Fleming spent five seasons with the Chicago Bulls. He also spent three seasons with the Brooklyn Nets and began his career in 2015 with the Denver Nuggets.

A native of Forked River, New Jersey, Fleming also spent 14 years in Germany, serving as a head coach with the Artland Dragons and spending six seasons with the Brose Baskets Bamberg.

As the head coach of Bamberg, Fleming won four Germany Cup championships and three German Supercup championships. He was named German Coach of the Year in 2011.

Fleming will replace former Alabama basketball assistant coach Ryan Pannone, who departed the Crimson Tide to accept the job at Arkansas State as their head men's basketball coach. Arkansas State's job opened up because former Alabama assistant coach Bryan Hodgson accepted the head coaching job at South Florida.

Fleming is the second coach on staff that Oats has pulled from the NBA. Current defensive coach Brian Adams was a member of the Detroit Pistons before joining Alabama.

Fleming will coach the Crimson Tide's offense, which has boasted record-breaking seasons each of the past two years.

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.