He FC Barcelona basketball team announced this morning the signing of Raul ‘Raulzinho’ Neto 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 strengthen the team after Nico Laprovittola’s long-term injury.
“I come with many hopes and desires. “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 the Barça club’s media.
The Brazilian player, 1.86 meters and 82 kilos in weighthas 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 from the Brazilian championshipwhere he had returned after thirteen years adding up and where he has recorded 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. My knee has fully recovered and I have regained my rhythm. “I feel very good and I think about the effort and all the hard moments that I have experienced in the last year to reach one of the best teams in Europe like Barça, compete and win titles,” has declared the Brazilian point guard.
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 2023on several computers: 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 my all on the court. 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 Brazilian Minas Tenis Clube (2008-2011), Neto made the jump to the ACB, where he played a total of 132 games and demonstrated his quality in two teams. He spent three years in the Guipuzcoa Basketball (2011/14) and a season in Murcia (2014/15) before make the jump to the NBA with an average of 8.1 points, 3 assists and 8.1 efficiency in 22 minutes of play.
An injury prevented him from debuting in the Euroleague
‘Raulzinho’, as he is also known in the world of basketball, He 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, it 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 Gameshis next step was to join a modest team in Brazil to regain sensations and gain competitive rhythm before being able to sign for a team like Barça.
