Fratello was born in Hackensack, New Jersey to his parents, Vincent and Marie. He is of Italian descent. He graduated from Hackensack High School, where he was captain of the basketball, baseball, football and field hockey teams. He was named to the Bergen "All County" Football team as a center in his senior year. He then went on to Montclair State College in Montclair, New Jersey to play football. Upon graduation he returned to Hackensack High School as an assistant for both the basketball and football teams. Fratello then went on to the University of Rhode Island as a graduate assistant assigned to head coach Tom Carmody, also coaching the University of Rhode Island freshman basketball team. He had been a college basketball assistant at James Madison University under Lou Campanelli and served as an assistant for Rollie Massimino at Villanova before going to the NBA as an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks during Hubie Brown's tenure.
Coaching
Fratello was head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies from December 2004 to December 2006. In his first season, he inherited a 5–11 team that he turned around to win 40 games and advance to the playoffs. Fratello built on that record the following year to win 49 games and return to the playoffs for a second consecutive season. Before departing in December 2006, his record was 6–24 taking his . Prior to working with the Grizzlies, Fratello had coached the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Atlanta Hawks. In his six seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers his record was 248 wins and 212 losses. Fratello took the Cavaliers to the playoffs four times. Fratello coached the Hawks for seven seasons and posted a 324–250 record, making the post-season playoffs five times and winning the Central Division in 1987 with 57 wins. Fratello was named Coach of the Year for the 1985–86 NBA season. His NBA career stats are . His teams have qualified for the playoffs in eleven of his 16 seasons as a head coach. One of the most respected basketball minds despite having never won an NBA championship as a head coach, Fratello ranks 19th on the NBA's all-time win list and 21st in games coached. On February 24, 2011, Fratello was officially announced as the Ukraine national basketball team head coach and on March 3, 2011, he was introduced to the Ukrainian media at a press conference in Kiev. After the successes he provided for Ukraine, including their first ever FIBA World Cup appearance, it was announced that Fratello would not coach for Ukraine for EuroBasket 2015. He would be replaced by Yevgin Murzin as the nation's Team Ukraine basketball team.
Fratello started as the color analyst for the Los Angeles Clippers from 1990-92. He returned to the Clippers for the 2019 season as a rotating analyst on TV.
NBC/TNT
Fratello has been a television commentator for NBC Sports and is currently a main color commentator of TNT, working once again with longtime play-by-play announcerMarv Albert, who first paired up with Fratello in the 1990–91 NBA season as the main announcing team for the NBA on NBC. Starting with the 2008–09 NBA season Fratello also began working with Marv Albert doing New Jersey Nets games on the YES Network. During his stint as a color commentator, Marv Albert dubbed him "The Czar of the Telestrator" for his masterful way of diagramming basketball plays on screen.
Return to TNT
For the 2007–08 season, TNT rehired Fratello as a full-time commentator, allowing him to work once again with Marv Albert at NBA on TNT. Reggie Miller, who had split time between TNT's studio and the booth the past two years, also became a full-time game analyst, joining Albert and Fratello on the sidelines. Prior to Kerr's departure in the summer of 2014 to become the head coach of the Golden State Warriors, he was part of a three-man booth with his YES counterpart Marv Albert and Steve Kerr. He left the network after the 2018-2019 season
With the YES Network
Since the 2008–09 season, Fratello had worked with Marv Albert and Ian Eagle on New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets games on the YES Network. Fratello was hired after the unexpected resignation of former color analyst Mark Jackson from the network. For the 2017-18 season, he served as a studio analyst. At the end of that season, he left the network to join the team at NBA TV on a full-time basis. Former Net Richard Jefferson was named as his successor.
Head coaching record
! colspan="2"|Career
Personal life
Fratello is married to his wife Susan with two kids, a son named Marc and a daughter named Kristi.
