Raul Neto He is a new Barça player until the end of the season. The Brazilian point guard, with an Italian passport, has signed the contract until the end of the 2024/25 financial year to reinforce the team after Nico Laprovittola’s long-term injury. “I come with a lot of hope and desire. I have already spoken with a couple of players, I have watched the games and I am prepared to play and help the team as much as possible”says Neto in statements to Barça One.
The Brazilian player, 1.86 meters tall and weighing 82 kilos, has carried out the corresponding medical tests at the Barcelona Hospital and at the Medical Services of the Joan Gamper Sports City. The new player arrives from Esporte Clube Pinheiros of the Brazilian championship, where he had returned after thirteen years of adding and where he has registered an average of 16.8 points, 5 assists, 17.8 efficiency and 20 minutes of play in five games.
“Now I am in the best moment of the last two years. I have fully recovered from my knee and have regained my rhythm. I feel very good and I think about the effort and all the hard moments I have experienced in the last year to reach one of the best teams in Europe like Barça, compete and win titles,” he told Barça One.
More than 400 games in the NBA
Neto, born in 1992, is a player with extensive experience in the NBA, where he has played for eight seasons, between 2015 and 2023, in several teams: Utah Jazz; Philadelphia 76ers; Washington Wizards y Cleveland Cavaliers. In these eight years he has played a total of 435 games in the American basketball league. In the first season in Utah (2015/16) he had a great role, playing 81 games in the regular phase. Later, when he was already in Washington (2020/21 and 2021/22), he also had a lot of prominence, with 64 and 70 games. His time in the NBA ended with an average of 5.7 points per game and 2.1 assists in 15 minutes of play.
In this sense, Neto describes with an ambitious message that can provide experience. “I have been through the NBA and the national team and, as a player, I will give it my all on the track. I like to defend and play for the team, do what is needed at the moment of the game and the season to win. “I am a winner and I have come to win.”
Four seasons in the ACB
After debuting as an elite player in the Minas Tennis Clube Brazilian (2008-2011), Neto made the leap to the ACB, where he played a total of 132 games and demonstrated his quality in two teams. He spent three years at Guipuzcoa Basket (2011/14) and one season at Murcia (2014/15) before making the leap to the NBA with an average of 8.1 points, 3 assists and 8.1 efficiency in 22 minutes of play.
His best game was, precisely, against Barça on the last day of the 2012/13 season, scoring 25 points, six assists and accumulating a rating of 31. And he remembers those games against his new Club with special memories: “When I played against Barça, I did it with more enthusiasm because I was where I wanted to be. They were games highlighted on the calendar and very nice to play.”
A fixture in the Brazilian team
After winning the silver medal with Brazil U18 (2010) in the FIBA Americas Championship, he became a fixture in the senior team, becoming the youngest member to play for the Brazilian national team. With his country’s national team, Neto has played in important tournaments such as the aforementioned Americas Championship (2013), as well as World Cups (2010; 2014; 2023) and the Olympic Games (London 2012; Rio 2016 and Paris 2024).
He was also called up during the current FIBA window for the Americup 2025 classification, but the player has renounced it to be able to be in Barcelona as soon as possible with the team.
An injury prevented him from debuting in the Euroleague
‘Raulzinho’, as he is also known in the world of basketball, had the opportunity to debut in the Euroleague last season, once his signing for Fenerbahçe was announced in the summer of 2023. A serious knee injury (right patellar tendon ) with his team during the World Cup, however, prevented him from fulfilling one of his dreams, making his debut in the top European competition.
After almost a year of recovery and participating in the Olympic Games, his next step was to join a modest team in Brazil to regain sensations and have a competitive rhythm before being able to sign for a team like Barça.
The fifth Brazilian in history
Although it is common to have players of Brazilian origin in football or in sections such as futsal, Neto will be the fifth player born in Brazil to wear the Barça basketball shirt. In this sense, follow the steps of Anderson Varejao (2001-04), Marcelinho Huertas (2011-15), Wesley Sena (formative basketball player who debuted in a game in the 2016/17 season) and Vitor Faverani (2017) .
