Then, he coached the BSL teams Türk Telekom, Pınar Karşıyaka and Efes Pilsen respectively.

He was the assistant coach of Turkish national team alongside Ercüment Sunter in EuroBasket 1997 in Spain.

After his return to Europe, he coached Italian side Montepaschi Siena and won with the club the very last Saporta Cup in 2002.

Subsequently, he joined Ülkerspor (now Fenerbahçe Ülker); however, he had to quit his job due to personal issues.

[5][6] Ataman had a successful season with Beşiktaş which the team achieved EuroCup Quarter Finals held in Turin, Italy; after a stunning undefeated 10 in-a-row win performance in group B.

[18] On October 19, 2014, Ataman was involved in the incident with then-Galatasaray player Nolan Smith, who threw the towel while being subbed out from the game against Banvit.

[23] Ataman later apologized for his comments, saying that "all the remarks [on Zvezda fans] were made before learning it [that this tragedy occurred before the game]".

[24] On June 6, 2015, he signed a two-year extension with the club, reportedly worth half million euros per season.

[25] On April 27, Ataman's team Galatasaray Odebank defeated Strasbourg in Abdi İpekçi Arena and won the EuroCup title.

[27] He won the EuroLeague title for the second time in a row in the final match against Real Madrid in the 2021–22 season.

[28] On April 21, 2023, Ataman signed a two-year contract with Greek Basket League and EuroLeague powerhouse Panathinaikos, marking a new page in his career.

[1] In the 2023-24 season, Ataman and Panathinaikos finished in the 2nd place in the Euroleague Regular Season (23W-11L) and secured the home court advantage for the Playoffs, where they eliminated Maccabi Tel Aviv with a score of 3-2 and led Panathinaikos to the Final Four in Berlin for the first time after an absence of 12 years.

He won Panathinaikos' seventh EuroLeague title and the first one since 2011, facing Real Madrid in the final where the "Greens" dominated the second half against Real Madrid for a 80-95 victory in Berlin and managed to win the Euroleague title in his first season as the head coach.