We know that Italy produces tons of great soccer players, race car drivers, and all-around handsome gentlemen. But the boot of Europe has also made great strides on the basketball court in recent years. While Italy isn’t exactly sending one superstar after another to the NBA, there’s been a steady stream of players finding their way into the league. In fact, now seems like the perfect time to look back at some of the best players in NBA history who were born in Italy.
Nico Mannion
Let’s call Mannion an honorary member of this list, as his career is just getting started. He was born and spent most of his childhood in Italy before moving to the U.S. and playing a year of college basketball at Arizona. In 30 games for the Warriors in his rookie season, he averaged 4.1 points and 2.3 assists in limited minutes, showing the potential to be a solid NBA player.
Luigi Datome
After nearly a decade in Europe, Datome gave the NBA a chance, playing two seasons with the Celtics and Pistons. He was never anything more than a bench piece during that time, spending a lot of time in the G League. However, Datome scored 22 points in his one and only NBA start with the Celtics before resuming his career in Europe.
Nicolo Melli
Melli is another player who made little more than a brief cameo in the NBA after a successful career in Europe. Over two years with the Pelicans and Mavericks, he averaged five points and 2.9 rebounders per game. But for a guy who played limited minutes, Melli got his fair share of assists, steals, and blocks, proving to be a useful do-everything player coming off the bench.
Marco Belinelli
Belinelli was one of the first Italians to stick in the NBA for a long time and have a long, distinguished career. He was also the first Italian player to win an NBA championship, averaging 11.4 points per game during the 2013-14 season when the Spurs won the title.
He eventually returned home to Italy after 13 seasons in the NBA with nine different teams. However, Belinelli averaged a respectable 9.7 points per game during that long career.
Andrea Bargnani
While he played fewer seasons in the NBA than Belinelli, Bargnani was surely the better player. The seven-footer from Rome was selected sixth overall in the 2006 Draft and came close to living up to those expectations.
Despite never being an elite rebounder for his size, Bargnani could score, averaging as many as 21.4 points per game with Toronto during the 2010-11 season. He started to fade toward the end of his 10 years in the league but averaged 14.3 points per game for his career.
Danilo Gallinari
At age 20, Gallinari was the MVP of the Italian League before testing his luck in the NBA. He was selected sixth overall just two years after Bargnani was drafted in the same slot. He’s averaged double figures in points in every season but his rookie year with the Knicks.
While he’s never been an all-star Gallinari has always been one of the more consistent scorers on his team, averaging close to 16 points per game for his career, which is far from over.