The winds of change swept through the Sacramento Kings organization on Thursday, when lead executive Vlade Divac decided to relieve Dave Joerger of his head coaching duties. Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton is one of the front-runners for the position, but San Antonio Spurs assistant Ettore Messina would reportedly be highly interested in taking the job if it were offered to him.

Messina, a 59-year-old native of Catania, Italy, would be a great pickup for the Kings — if they're able to land him. Simply put, he has loads of experience. In fact, he won four EuroLeague championships as a head coach. This has led many experts and analysts to view him as one of the greatest European basketball minds of all time.

Messina was inducted into the Italian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008. And in 2014, he was hired by the Spurs as an assistant. When Gregg Popovich had to step away from his head coaching duties to deal with a family emergency in 2016, it was Messina who was asked to lead the team.

This season went better than expected for the Kings, which is why all this change is surprising. With a 39-43 overall record, they finished ninth in the Western Conference standings — nine games behind the eighth-seeded LA Clippers.

Whether or not the Kings will be able to secure Messina as their next head coach remains to be seen, but it certainly sounds like both sides are interested.

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