ABUJA (Nigeria) - David Fizdale has been appointed as the new head coach of the Nigerian men's team, the D'Tigers.
The American will bring his NBA coaching experience to the Nigeria D'Tigers, who are currently ranked third in Group C of the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers, behind Guinea (3–0) and Tunisia (2–1), and ahead of Rwanda (0–3).
The former African champions won one of their opening three games in the World Cup Qualifiers, which were held in Tunisia last November.
Nigeria will conclude their Group C campaign in Window 3 of the World Cup African Qualifiers in Luanda, Angola, from 2–5 July.
Fizdale, who has held two head coaching roles in the NBA with the New York Knicks and the Memphis Grizzlies, last served as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns in 2025.
He is the sixth American to coach the Nigerian men's team since Mike Brown, Will Voigt, John Lucas, Sam McCullum and Sam Vincent. Voigt led Nigeria to their only AfroBasket title in 2015.
Fizdale replaced former Nigerian international player Abdulrahman Mohammed, who had served as head coach of his country's national team from 2024 until November 2025.
Fizdale previously coached in Africa at the 2019 Basketball Without Borders Africa event in Dakar, Senegal.
FIBA