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Paolo Banchero‘s rookie season in the NBA went about as well as anyone could’ve hoped for.
Sure, the Orlando Magic were still absolutely awful.
But Banchero himself impressed mightily. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft averaged 20 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game en route to winning the NBA Rookie of the Year award.
His performance was also enough to land him an invite to Team USA for the upcoming FIBA World Cup.
Banchero happily accepted the invite, a decision that may keep him from ever entering the country of Italy again.
You see, Banchero’s father Mario is of Italian descent and Paolo grew up with an Italian passport. He even played at the youth level for the Azzuri.
Just last year, Bachero stated his intent to play for Italy when it came time to choose a national team.
And yet, here we are.
Italian basketball federation president Gianni Petrucci was not at all happy about the “betrayal.”
“It was a legitimate decision, but he could have made a call to communicate that to us. Instead, we learned about his decision from the newspapers,” Petrucci told La Gazzetta dello Sport per Basketnews. “In the past few days, he was in Milan, and despite our agreements with his agency, he avoided the meeting with Coach Pozzecco.
“Betrayal, especially in basketball, is a strong word. Situations like this happen, and personally, I’m used to it. But he fooled us, we were planning a great commercial strategy for him. Now we need to turn this disappointment into positive energy, I’m sure our coach will be able to do it,” Petrucci added.
Banchero’s decision is understandable. The USA is the predominant power in the world’s basketball while Italy has won just two Olympic medals all-time.
But he’ll have to work his way up the depth chart with the US if he hopes to play in Paris next summer.