David Sean Fizdale (born June 16, 1974) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach who is an assistant coach for the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

of the

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

(NBA). He previously was an associate general manager for the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

, an assistant coach for the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

, the head coach for the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

and

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division of the ...

, and was an assistant coach for the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

and the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...

. He won two championships with the Heat in 2012 and 2013.

Career

Born in Los Angeles, Fizdale attended Fremont High School in Los Angeles, where he played as a

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

for the school's basketball team. He subsequently attended college at the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in San Diego, California, United States. Chartered in 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University ...

, where he graduated with a B.A. in communications and a minor in

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

. During his senior year, he was also named a member of the All- WCC Team. After a couple years removed from graduating, Fizdale would begin his coaching career by first being an assistant coach for his alma mater from 1998 until 2002 before joining Fresno State University as an assistant coach there for a couple of seasons afterward. Between 2003 and 2016, Fizdale was an

assistant coach An athletic coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction, and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''Coach'' is that of a Coach (carriage), horse-drawn carriage, deriving ul ...

for the

, and

. During his tenure with the Heat, Fizdale coached "Team Shaq", a squad selected by

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), commonly known as Shaq ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. He is a and Center (basketball), center ...

, at the 2013 Rising Stars Challenge during the NBA All-Star Weekend. His team was defeated 163–135, by

Charles Barkley Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on NBA on TNT, TNT and CBS Sports. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "the Bread Truck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", ...

's "Team Chuck", coached by then

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

' assistant coach

Mike Budenholzer Michael Vincent Budenholzer (born August 6, 1969) is an American professional basketball coach who most recently served as the head coach of the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Budenholzer previously head coached the M ...

. After the reshuffle of the Heat's coaching staff, Fizdale became an associate head coach after Ron Rothstein decided to retire from his coaching career and

Bob McAdoo Robert Allen McAdoo Jr. ( ; born September 25, 1951) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he was a five-time NBA All-Star and named the NBA Mos ...

was assigned to the scouting staff. On May 29, 2016, Fizdale was named as the head coach of the

. He led the Grizzlies to a 43–39 record in the 2016–17 season, reaching the Western Conference playoffs. After a 7–12 start to the 2017–18 season, including eight consecutive losses, and a publicized fourth-quarter benching of

Marc Gasol Marc Gasol Sáez (, ; born 29 January 1985) is a Spanish former professional basketball player who is the president of Bàsquet Girona of the Liga ACB. The Center (basketball), center is a two-time All-NBA Team member and a three-time NBA All-St ...

, Fizdale was fired from the team on November 27, 2017. On May 7, 2018, Fizdale was named as the head coach of the

signing a four-year deal with the organization. On December 6, 2019, he was fired by the Knicks after a 4–18 start to their season. On September 15, 2021, Fizdale was hired by the

as an assistant coach. On June 29, 2022, Fizdale was hired as the associate general manager for the

. On June 21, 2023, Fizdale was hired by the

as an assistant coach. Fizdale would later get removed from the team's coaching staff on May 12, 2024, alongside the rest of

Frank Vogel Frank Paul Vogel (born June 21, 1973) is an American professional basketball coach who is a coaching consultant for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He previously served as the head coach for the Orlando Magic, I ...

's coaching staff following their hiring of new head coach

. However, after an attempt to promote him into a front office position later in the month, as well as receive interest in joining the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

, Fizdale was reported to return to his role as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns on May 29. His return to the Suns would be made official on August 6.

Head coaching record

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, , 6, , 2, , 4, , , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in

First round First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

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New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

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Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

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Personal life

Fizdale is married to marketer Natasha Sen and has one son from a prior relationship. Natasha's birth father is Roy Singer and he lives in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Natasha was born in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and her mother is Samira Sen, who lives in Canada.

References

External links

NBA.com: David Fizdale coach profile

– college basketball player statistics at

Sports Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fizdale, David Living people 1974 births African-American basketball coaches American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks assistant coaches Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from Los Angeles Fresno State Bulldogs men's basketball coaches Golden State Warriors assistant coaches Los Angeles Lakers assistant coaches Memphis Grizzlies head coaches Miami Heat assistant coaches New York Knicks head coaches Phoenix Suns assistant coaches San Diego Toreros men's basketball coaches San Diego Toreros men's basketball players Point guards 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen John C. Fremont High School alumni