About two months before the basketball World Cup, the Italian-American player of the Orlando Magic Paolo Banchero he chose to accept the summons from the United States, contrary to what he had previously said. In fact, Banchero was born and raised in the United States to an American mother and father of Italian origins, he has held Italian citizenship since 2020 and even before obtaining it he had always claimed that he wanted to play for the Italian national team, from which he felt particularly represented.
In the meantime, however, he was the first player from college to be chosen in the 2022 NBA draft and in his first season in the best basketball league in the world he was elected as the best rookie. In the last year and a half he has confirmed the expectations on his behalf and his talent has been further recognized, up to the call of the US national team, which had already called him up at youth level.
Italy had tried to anticipate the times even before Banchero arrived in the NBA by summoning him for the Pre-Olympic Tournament in view of the 2021 Olympics, but the player had had to refuse due to his commitments in the US school championships. Once he arrived in the NBA, Banchero had reiterated his intentions to play for Italy, but a call-up had not been possible due to a series of complications related to his new commitment to the Orlando Magic and the rules of the NBA, which grants its players to national teams for no more than 28 days between seasons.
The Italian basketball federation was aware of these difficulties but still bet on Banchero for the future, considering the importance of the player: at 20 he is 2 meters and 8 centimeters tall, he is a “long” good at everything and after seeing widely in school leagues, he’s doing it among the pros as well. And in addition to him, in recent years the Federation has taken an interest in other Italian-American players: Nico Mannion, chosen by the Golden State Warriors in the 2020 draft, has already been involved in the national team and the same is hoped to be done with Donte DiVincenzo, NBA champion in 2021 with the Milwaukee Bucks.
For these reasons, the Federation had decided to wait and follow any developments that eventually occurred, but in a different direction than expected, and apparently in an unexpected way. Gianni Petrucci, president of the Federation, seemed rather annoyed and disappointed by Banchero’s choice. At the Gazzetta dello Sport he said: “It’s a legitimate choice, but a phone call was enough to let us know, instead we learned about it from the agencies”. Banchero has been in Italy in recent weeks, including in Milan for fashion week, but according to Petrucci he would have “avoided any contact” with Gianmarco Pozzecco, the national team coach.
Petrucci concluded the interview by saying: «A plan had been developed to invest in his image in Italy, but when he understood his value within the NBA, the romantic aspect of the story ended».
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2023-06-26 12:30:03
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