Rumors

Andrea Bargnani: Kevin Garnett is an absolute legend. He is definitely the best defender I ever played against. Me being a very good offensive player, I never had trouble scoring against anybody. Honestly, I never really felt the difference of who I had in front of me. It was more about me, if I was playing bad or good, not the guy I had in front. It never really affected my game. Kevin Garnett affected me a lot when he was playing defense.

YouTube

Andrea Bargnani: Playing with Carmelo Anthony was great because I played with Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh, the two true superstars that I played with, maybe Carmelo even more than Bosh famous-wise and player-wise. It was great, I think superstars is is one of the other big difference compared to Europe. In Europe we don't have the superstar level, the superstar kind of player so being next to one of the superstars and playing with them and practice every day was a great experience, because you see what really a superstar is which is something completely different than anybody else. There was a lot of pressure.

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Andrea Bargnani: I didn't even know what the NBA draft was. And playing in the playing in the NBA when I was eight, nine, 10 years old was an unreachable dream. You were not even allowed to dream to play in the NBA when I was eight, nine, 10 because nobody was going from Italy to become an important player in the NBA. It never happened. I was dreaming about playing in Barcelona, playing in Real Madrid, in Panathinaikos, because that was my dream when I was growing up. So to answer your question, I didn't really feel the pressure of being number one.

YouTube

NBA 2006 No. 1 overall pick Andrea Bargnani played 10 years in the NBA — mostly with the Raptors but also with the Knicks and Nets — before finishing his pro career in Spain. Since retiring, Bargnani has returned to his native Italy and has been an active investor. Most recently, the 39-year-old made his first sports tech investment in Pick-Roll, a social basketball app that connects players seeking to join pickup games and find community around a shared love of the sport. On the appeal of joining Pick-Roll . . . I’ve been very active in the private equity, venture capital world in the last few years. So when I got in touch with Pick-Roll, I immediately liked the fact that it meets the most basic need of every basketball player, which is to find the nearest playground and organize a pickup ball game. It sounds pretty, pretty simple, but it can be very challenging at times. And there are millions of basketball players out there, so I think the idea is very scalable in the future.

Sports Business Journal

Here’s an excerpt regarding the rumors of a potential direct NBA expansion into Europe: “Personally, I would like to see a closed league in basketball. Any model coming from the NBA should be welcomed with open arms because it’s a model that works very well, in terms of entertainment, business, and sport. In Europe, we have a model that doesn’t work as well, especially in terms of sustainability. So, I would say yes to anything the NBA wants to do in Europe.”

Sportando

Christos Tsaltas: Paolo Banchero made history. He became the second Italian as the no.1 NBA Draft, after Andrea Bargnani. The Orlando Magic selected him as the first pick in the class of 2022! #NBADraft

Twitter

The NBA is now broadcast in 47 countries in 32 languages. Some of its biggest stars were born outside of the U.S. In 2019, the Toronto Raptors — a team that took the first European player No. 1 overall, Italian center Andrea Bargnani — won the NBA title with a team full of international players and staff. Before there were fiber optics and satellite coordinates, though, there was Bassani, his tapes and his luggage. Before Bassani, there was Giorgio Gandolfi, a basketball journalist from Italy enamored with the NBA and charming enough to make friends with some of the league’s most influential people.

Los Angeles Times

David West: "I thought about this the other day. When [Andrea] Bargnani and [Chris] Bosh were in Toronto, the reason why that sh** didn't work is 'cause the NBA let us beat them up! We beat up Bargnani, they let us body Bosh. Like, Bosh and Bargnani right now, they would blow this NBA out of the water. They were damn near impossible to guard. I'm serious. The only reason Bargnani didn't have a (successful) career was 'cause the referees let people like me beat him up!" "In today's game, he would be killin' because he would be protected. Ryan, you know, you remember -- he would try that sweep at the three-point line; they wasn't giving him that sh**, that rip-through. We could grab both arms."

basketballnews.com

Fans of the Toronto Raptors might not be surprised about who some of the best examples of the sunk-cost fallacy in the NBA were during the study period. “Some of the names that came within the top few examples were Andrea Bargnani and DeMarre Carroll,” said Hinton. “They were classic examples of a player who came in on a big contract and the team made a deal about it.”

Toronto Star

Andrea Bargnani: So, I wanted to tell you that I am physically fine but, after the breaching of my last two contracts, wanted by myself, I am not looking for a club. All of the news you have read on my on newspapers, especially market news, have been invented (and this is nothing new). The reasons why I am not looking for a team are a lot and almost all of them are personal. People who know me, know this since months, but I wanted to share with you, those who have been following and supporting me over the years because it seemed unpleasant not to give you an answer. I am very grateful for the love you show me.

Sportando

Emiliano Carchia: Virtus Roma made an offer to Andrea Bargnani, per source

Twitter

Baskonia and Andrea Bargnani officially parted ways. The Italian big man has played 31 games this season and has been plagued by injuries.

Sportando

Virtus Roma of the Italian Serie A2 tried to sign Andrea Bargnani for the playoffs. Il Mago is negotiating a buyout with Baskonia where he has signed last summer a two-year deal. Bargnani, native from Rome, grew up with Stella Azzurra before moving to Benetton Treviso and the NBA in 2006-2007.

Sportando

Sportando: Andrea Bargnani and Baskonia are negotiating a buyout, a source told Sportando. Bargnani's last injury occurred in February & he's still out.

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