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Riccardo Fois, the Wildcats’ excitable and jovial assistant coach, is returning to the NBA to become an assistant coach of the Sacramento Kings. He had spent two seasons as the Phoenix Suns’ director of player development before joining Lloyd’s first UA staff in 2021-22, and now will be in a higher-level NBA role.

“Riccardo did an incredible job for our program the last three years,� Lloyd said Saturday during a break from recruiting at the Section 7 event. “He’s a dear friend of mine and his family (is close). He had an opportunity to go back to the NBA and we just felt it’s an opportunity that he couldn’t pass up. We’re excited for him.�

The news first rippled out of Italy, where Italian basketball official Gianmarco Pozzecco said during a press conference that Fois would join the Kings, while Lloyd confirmed it to the Star later Saturday.

Fois has been in Italy working as an assistant coach for the Italian national team, which is scheduled to compete in an Olympic qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico.

A native of Olbia, Italy, Fois has a long history with Lloyd. Fois opposed Lloyd in the WCC, first as a player and then staffer at Pepperdine, then worked with Lloyd in various roles over five seasons on the Gonzaga staff, where Lloyd was an assistant coach.

Over the years, Fois drew a reputation for his player development skills, but Lloyd said he also grew in other ways.

“Ricci’s become a really good tactician,� Lloyd said. “He’s got a high-level basketball IQ, and he’s a creative thinker.�

Lloyd said he wasn’t sure if he would look outside the program or inside to replace Fois, the first Wildcat assistant coach to leave Lloyd’s staff in his three years.

While Lloyd said he knew of Fois’ impending departure for a while, his stint as USA Basketball’s U18 coach earlier this month, along with the arrival of next season’s Wildcats on campus have been Lloyd’s more immediate concerns.

“I’m considering everything right now, kind of taking my time with everything,� Lloyd said. “The main focus was getting through USA Basketball, making sure our new group is together this summer, just starting our journey as a group. Once I kind of have those things settled in, then I’ll figure out what our next step is.�

An NCAA rule change that went into effect last year allowed teams two additional assistant coaches who could work on the floor but not in off-campus recruiting, roles that player development director Rem Bakamus and scouting director Ken Nakagawa filled.

That was in addition to the three fulltime assistants, which at UA has included Fois, Jack Murphy and Steve Robinson since 2021-22.

Murphy (NAU) and Robinson (Tulsa, Florida State) have both been head coaches elsewhere, as has player relations director Jason Gardner (IUPUI), while Bakamus, Nakagawa, special assistant TJ Benson and basketball operations director Evan Manning are among UA’s up-and-coming coaching prospects.

Lloyd could elevate one of his current staffers into the third fulltime assistant coaching role and hire a lower-level staffer, or hire a third assistant from outside the program and keep the others in their same roles.

“No question. We’ll consider everything,� Lloyd said. “We have a great staff and we’ve had great staff continuity. We’ll figure out as a group what the best thing for us is going forward.�