Gianni Petrucci on Paolo Banchero’s decision on La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“In recent days, he was in Milan and, despite the commitments made by his agency to meet us, he avoided any contact with our head coach.”
“Betrayal is a strong word, these situations happen in sports and I personally am prepared for them. I consider it a mockery.”
Gianni Petrucci on @Pp_doesit decision on La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"In recent days, he was in Milan and, despite the commitments made by his agency to meet us, he avoided any contact with our head coach."
"Betrayal is a strong word, these situations happen in sports and I…
— Alessandro Luigi Maggi (@AlessandroMagg4) June 26, 2023
by horseshoeoverlook
45 Comments
Least dramatic Italian
On one hand Paolo doesn’t speak Italian and hadn’t even stepped foot in Italy until this summer. The guy is American.
On the other, picking Team USA is a really boring decision. He could have been Italy’s talisman, whereas he’ll probably get lost in the shuffle playing for the US.
Either way, doesn’t sound like he dealt with the situation well.
Paolo would’ve been a complete foreigner on the Italian team. How would he even communicate with his coach and teammates? I don’t get why countries try to recruit foreigners to play on their national teams. Having him play for Italy would’ve been the mockery.
Italy’s disappointment is understandable. In Paolo Banchero, the Italians were hoping to win back a unique player at their level. He had been telling them for many months that he would join them, and finally he opted for Team USA.
The disappointment is understandable.
But in the end, the decision is quite understandable. In my opinion, he feels more American than Italian. In fact, I don’t even know if he speaks Italian…
Italy was more of a Plan B in his mind, I suppose.
Lol. Italy still mad that Kobe didn’t play for them
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its not like the guy was born and/or raised in italy
I don’t blame him Italy really don’t have a future their best upcoming players are mannion and divincenzo which are mid at best then you got aging stars like gallo and belinelli
> He was given an Italian passport in early 2020 so that he could represent the Azzurri in the Tokyo Olympics but that opportunity never came back around following the delay of the sporting event due to COVID.
Still, Banchero spoke about the prospect of playing for Italy afterwards, telling La Gazette dello Sport in June of 2022: ‘This summer I won’t be able to play with the national team, but next summer, I will be there,’ talking about Team Italy at the World Cup.
He once even posed for a snap with an Italian flag and told ex-Magic teammate R.J. Hampton that ‘I am with Italy now’ on a podcast.
[source](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/nba/article-12229987/NBA-Paolo-Banchero-commits-Team-USA-FIBA-World-Cup-despite-saying-hed-represent-Italy.html)
shouldve just committed to team us from the start
> On June 24 last year, just before the draft, he said in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport:
> “The support I have received so far from Italy has been fantastic. This summer, I won’t be able to play with the national team, but next summer, I will be there”.
> In late October, Banchero visited his then-teammate RJ Hampton’s podcast, emphasizing his choice of the Italian national team quite sharply:
> “Team USA? No, I’m with Italy now.”
Bad look for Paolo tbf
understandable.
Banchero shouldnt have publicly announced that he will play for Italy last summer if he wasnt 100% certain.
He’s not being dramatic he just Italian
Italians are asking him to remove the Italian flag from his IG bio. He is now known to them as Paul Banker, Paolo Banchero is no more.
This guy needs to get with the program. Its 2023. You are supposed to inflame the masses as much as possible, not down play it.
Something like this:
This is unbelievable. I can’t believe it. My wife literally cannot believe it. This is a betrayal of Italian children, a betrayal of my wife, a betrayal of my mistresses, a betrayal of my wife’s boyfriend, a betrayal of my mistresses mistresses. I cannot go on. I simply cannot go on. I surrender to my despair. Good bye. Farewell. Auf Wiedersehen!”
You have to say things three times at least to get the point across. It doesn’t have to really make sense. Add exclamation points when in doubt.
I learned that by watching “genius” writing shows. They talk real fast and repeat themselves to sound smart. Its really a good way to sound smart. I am really smart.
So what, no fuckin ziti now?
Now they know how we felt when Giuseppe Rossi decided to play for Italy instead of the US.
o well its not really a betrayal
hes a citizen of the workd
Boring af, İtaly with Banchero would be lit
Payback for Giuseppe Rossi
Banchero been a bitch boy since he picked to go to Duke
Can’t wait for Gennaro Gattuso to tackle his face…oh wait this is basketball. 😂
Prolly didn’t think he would get good enough to get lots of PT for the US NT, but now thinks he might be able to. Italy was probably a second option, happen in football/soccer a lot.
I’m shocked he never made any of the youth US national teams. Esp since he was a consensus 5 star recruit and very gifted player when he was younger as well. I guess it’d be different if he’d played for the US at youth levels and then expressed interest in possibly playing for Italy on senior teams and wasn’t so definitive about doing it. However on the other hand, I’m not gonna begrudge an 18-20 yr old too much and be this dramatic lol. Literally nobody should be shocked that an 18-20 yr old is flakey and not fully committed to something.
It’s prob more so a case of the US being by far the dominant team and he never was selected at tryouts so Italy was a possibility since it’s easier to be on that team, and now that he has a very solid rookie yr in the nba, team USA is interested. Haven’t seen many players turn down the chance if they’re eligible and team USA is interested. It would def be better competition wise if he chose Italy though. Other countries having #1 overall draft pick caliber talent is always fun
That’s disappointing on many levels. First of, he said he’ll play for them like three times. Why the change of course? Also, Team Italy would be fun af. Both the team and fans would adore him.
I was looking forward to him playin in Eurobasket.
Banchero will most likely never play or make the team the Olympics for Team USA.
He at least will play if he were on the Italian team.
I thought switching sides was Italian culture.
I guess he learned the hard way that commitment is not just a plate of pasta!
Changing your mind should be outlawed.
Kid wanted a gold medal one day, don’t blame him.
Paolo better prepare for monkey chants if he ever plays in Italy.
Maybe he wants a “guaranteed” gold medal with the US experience and then bring it over and play for Italy in the future.
Only thing that’s a shame is that he could have had the opportunity to be a role model and spread the BBall love and help advance the doort in italy, which is still pretty popular, but having a potential big star be part of your national team is special.
But hey, if he barely even set foot in Italy, I get why he would do what he did. But as an Italian, it’s still very disappointing.
How would he get into the USA team anyway?
It really is. He’s a coward.
He isn’t even italian, he was born and raised in the US. He has “italian roots” but that’s as far as it goes. Doesn’t speak italian, he’s never lived there and he’s never even been there.
Italy’s greatest basketballer
~~Paolo Banchero~~
Andrea Bargnani
Paolo is from Seattle, has he even seen the Sopranos?
Bro was too scared to say no
Pushy, melodramatic Italians? Weird.
Europeans any time an American tries to claim European heritage: “You are NOT European you are an American stop embarrassing yourself”
Europeans when an American has something to offer: “What do you mean you don’t want to play for us even though you’ve never even been here? You have marinara running through your veins! This is a betrayal”.
Jesus a south park logo in 2023
Italians everywhere: 🤌🏻🤌🏻
I wonder what made him change his mind… Did someone spike his pasta?
Has any NBA player ever turned down Team USA?
Whole time I thought he was Brazilian with that Portuguese ass name.