According to two separate sources, Maurizio Gherardini, the general manager of Benetton Treviso, Italy's top professional basketball club, has already agreed to join Bryan Colangelo's basketball front office in Toronto.

Gherardini will be the first European to hold a senior basketball position with an NBA club.

An official announcement could come as early as next week.

"It is a done deal," one Italian source with close ties to Gherardini said yesterday in an e-mail message.

"He's waiting [for] the end of the Italian season to make it official, but there's no doubt he's coming to Toronto."