The positions are slowly approaching between the Italian national team and Paolo Banchero, freshly selected by the Magic in first place in the last Draft. The president of the Italian federation, Gianni Petrucci had considered the 2023 World Cup as a legitimate deadline to welcome the new Magic player to Gianmarco Pozzecco’s training three weeks ago.
This time, it was the player himself who confirmed his desire to join the transalpine selection in the long term. He even started to get in touch with a member of the staff and a player, Nico Mannion.
“The World Cup is my goal. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be there 100% since I have yet to start my first NBA season, but it’s something I’m thinking about. When the time is right, I will make a decision.”, he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.“I have been in contact with coach Riccardo Fois (Italy team assistant since 2017) for some time now. He was in Gonzaga and Arizona, and he worked for the Suns in the NBA. I know him and I respect him. At player level, I have a good connection with Nico Mannion. He’s a West Coast kid like me, and he’s played in the same tournaments as me. We exchanged on social networks, I congratulated him for the quality of his game with the national team. I’m curious to see how far he can go.
Paolo Banchero also took advantage of the EuroBasket and the fine course achieved by the Italians, despite the absence of Danilo Gallinari, to project himself on the follow-up he wants to give to his international career.
It must be said that with him in its workforce, Italy can legitimately aspire to continue its progress.
“I haven’t really been able to watch a game live because here in the United States the games were shown at restricted times of the day. But I watched a lot of highlights, especially those of the match between Italy and Serbia. I followed the national team and I’m proud of the way they played and fought. »
