Surprise in store for Reyer, but there are other candidates besides Sasha Djordjevic: the names
Neven Spahija will not be confirmed at the helm of Reyer Venezia, the national team’s head coach Luca Banchi, who was given in pole position to take his place has taken himself off the list because he does not intend to have a double assignment, and Ettore Messina’s name is not the only one being approached by the ambitious orogranata club. There is no shortage of high-profile options to replace the Catania coach, now nearing the end of his adventure with Olimpia Milano. With this in mind, the orogranata management has already initiated the first contacts with the agents of Sasha Djordjevic, a Serbian who has coached Olimpia Milano, Benetton Treviso and Virtus Bologna in Italy.
The list of possible candidates for the lagoon players’ bench is further expanded with names such as Paolo Galbiati, currently at Baskonia and close to confirmation also thanks to the Spanish Cup victory, and Francesco Tabellini, back from his last season on the Paris Basketball bench. Also on the table was the option Dimitris Priftis, who a few months ago was in danger of being exonerated in Reggio Emilia, but who straightened things out in a big way and earned a new contract until 2028 with the white-and-red club. Down are the quotations of Gianmarco Pozzecco, who in any case could leave Galatasaray in the summer.
Banchi’s choice to decline the Venetian offer should be read as a precise decision to devote himself completely to the Azzurro project, launched in September 2025, and to the development of young talents. A renunciation that does not stem from a rejection towards Venice, but from the desire not to waste energy on two such demanding fronts. In the meantime, the suggestion of Messina has not gone away: the Catania coach left the Olimpia Milano bench last November 25 and has a contract with the biancorossa club expiring in June. The desire to return to coaching is great and could be the key to seeing him land at the Orogranata, although the feeling is that offers from European Euroleague clubs and, why not, from the United States are also on the table for him.
On the Galbiati front, it should be noted that the coach is under contract with Baskonia until June 30, 2027, which would require an agreement between the clubs to release him early. His candidacy for the Venetian bench is, moreover, intertwined with other market scenarios: the coach’s name had also been approached by Virtus Bologna, but that track seems to have cooled down in recent weeks.
