By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Darko Rajakovic made history by coaching a team in the All-Star Game, however the first step towards this direction was made a decade ago by legendary Ettore Messina.
The Italian mastermind, who at the time was an assistant of Greg Popovich in San Antonio, was among his coaching staff in the bench of the West in the 2016 NBA All-Star Game.
However, he was also the head coach in the Rising Stars Challenge, which at the time had adopted a World vs USA format, paving the way for what finally happened in the main event ten years later.
For the record, Team USA had won 157-154 over Team World which got 30 points by Kristaps Porzingis, 19 by Mario Hezonja, while Nikola Jokic and Clint Capela scored 12 points each, Bojan Bogdanovic added six and also Canadian Trey Lyles, currently a Real Madrid player, scored two points.