Andrea Bargnani

Andrea Bargnani (; born 26 October 1985) is an Italian former professional basketball player. The power forward-center played for Benetton Treviso in the Italian LBA and the EuroLeague before being selected first overall in the 2006 NBA draft by the Toronto Raptors. He spent 10 seasons in the NBA, including with the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets, before ending his career with a stint in Spain during the 2016–17 season.

Professional career Stella Azzurra Roma (2002–2003) Bargnani began his basketball career in 2002–03 with Stella Azzurra Roma in the Italian fourth-tiered league Serie B2, averaging 13.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in 23 games.

Benetton Treviso (2003–2006) In 2003–04, Bargnani joined LBA side Benetton Treviso. He posted averages of 4.2 points and 1.6 rebounds in 10 games. He made eight appearances in the EuroLeague, recording 2.4 points and 1.5 rebounds per outing. Bargnani entered the 2006 NBA draft and was selected first overall by the Toronto Raptors. He is the first European player, In the process, he also became the fourth-ever Italian-born player to play in the NBA. Like many rookies, Bargnani took some time to adapt to the league and as he slowly improved his game, his confidence and playing time increased. In turn, the home fans soon warmed up to Bargnani; on 7 January 2007, ten thousand Bargnani figurines were given away at Air Canada Centre for the game against the Washington Wizards. As the mid-season approached, Bargnani was selected as NBA's Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month (January 2007), joining teammate Jorge Garbajosa (winner of the award in December 2006) as the sixth Raptors player to win the monthly honour. After the All-Star break, Bargnani continued to work on his defence and shooting (averaging 14.3 points per game (ppg) and 3.9 rebounds per game (rpg) in 12 games in February 2007), and he was selected as the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for the second straight time on 1 March 2007. Bargnani became the third Raptor ever to win the award twice, joining Vince Carter and Damon Stoudamire. He recovered after about a month, and ended the season averaging 11.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. In the 2007 NBA playoffs, Bargnani averaged 11.0 ppg and 4.0 rpg as the Raptors were defeated by the New Jersey Nets 4–2 in the first round.

2007–08 season On 5 October 2007, the Raptors announced they had exercised a third-year option on Bargnani, giving a guaranteed NBA contract through the 2008–09 season and retaining a fourth-year option for the 2009–10 season. Prior to the 2007–08 season, Bargnani was voted by the general managers of the league as the "international player most likely to have a breakout season". He was selected to play with the Sophomores in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge during the NBA All-Star Game. Bargnani was widely criticised for having a poor season. His statistics had gone down, he was not grabbing enough rebounds, was unable to shoot well, got into foul trouble easily and did not drive to the basket enough. He did not feature prominently in the playoffs either—in which the Raptors were eliminated by the Orlando Magic in the first round—and there were even calls for him to be traded. He also seemed to rediscover his shooting stroke, had better shot selection and became a consistent shot-blocker, and he was soon moved to the starting line-up as small forward. After some stumbles in December, he hit good form in January, averaging 21.2 points and 6.7 rebounds over a 15-game stretch as he became the starting center in place for the injured O'Neal, recording a career-high 31 points against Chicago in the process. O'Neal was then traded to Miami during the All-Star break, allowing the Italian to regain his starting spot for the rest of the season. He averaged 19.8, 17.9 and 20.3 points per game for January, February and March, respectively, even as Toronto went on several losing streaks and gradually fell out of the playoff race. The Raptors concluded the regular season with 33 wins, and ranked 13th in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, Bargnani recorded career-high averages in points per game, field goal percentage, three-point percentage, rebounds and blocks.

2009–10 season

Bargnani's form and numbers continued in the 2009–10 season. In the first ten games, the center averaged 19.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game; by mid-season, he had seven double-doubles, a career high. Bargnani had a career year, averaging 21 points, 5 rebounds and 1 block.

2011–12 season During the 2011 NBA lockout, Bargnani chose not to sign overseas and decided instead to work on his game and develop into more of a power forward following the Raptors' acquisition of Lithuanian center Jonas Valančiūnas in the 2011 NBA draft. On 28 March 2012, in a game against the Denver Nuggets, Bargnani scored 26 points and became the fourth player to ever score 6,000 points as a Raptor.

2012–13 season After managing the first 21 games of the season, Bargnani missed the next two months of action with the Raptors following an elbow injury in early December. He returned to the line-up on 6 February 2013, but after managing another 14 games, he was ruled out for the rest of the season on 13 March because of the same injury.

New York Knicks (2013–2015)

2013–14 season On 10 July 2013, Bargnani was traded to the New York Knicks in exchange for Steve Novak, Marcus Camby and Quentin Richardson, along with a future first-round draft pick (2016) and two future second-round draft picks (2014 and 2017).

On 18 December 2013, in a game at the Milwaukee Bucks, with 20 seconds remaining in overtime in which the Knicks held a two-point lead, Bargnani received an offensive rebound and shot a three-pointer that missed (instead of dribbling out the clock or getting fouled to go to the free throw line). The game went into double-overtime as a result, where the Knicks fortunately outscored the Bucks 13–7 to hold on for a 107–101 win.

On 22 January 2014, in a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, Bargnani suffered a torn ligament in his left elbow after a failed dunk attempt, and was ruled out indefinitely, eventually missing the rest of the regular season. The Knicks finished the season at 37–45 and missed the playoffs.

2014–15 season After missing most of the preseason with a hamstring injury, Bargnani was set to make his season debut on 22 November when he was ruled out indefinitely again with a strained calf muscle. He went on to make his season debut on 31 December against the Los Angeles Clippers after having not played for nearly a year. In just under 20 minutes of action off the bench, he recorded 9 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in the 78–99 loss. However, the following game on 2 January, Bargnani re-injured his right calf during the first quarter of the Knicks' 81–97 loss to the Detroit Pistons. He missed a further 16 games before making his second return of the season against Miami on 9 February.

Brooklyn Nets (2015–2016) On 17 July 2015, Bargnani signed with the Brooklyn Nets. He made his debut for the Nets in the team's season opener against the Chicago Bulls on 28 October, recording 17 points and 7 rebounds off the bench in a 115–100 loss. On 10 December, he scored a season-high 23 points in a 110–91 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. On 20 February 2016, he was waived by the Nets.

Baskonia (2016–2017) On 26 July 2016, Bargnani returned to Europe and signed a two-year deal with Spanish club Baskonia. On 14 October 2016, in his first EuroLeague game of the season, Bargnani scored a season-best 26 points in an 85–84 win over Anadolu Efes. On 26 April 2017, Baskonia parted ways with Bargnani after a plague of injuries. In 15 EuroLeague games, he averaged 8.8 points per game, and in 14 ACB games, he averaged 11.5 points per game.

National team career

Bargnani played for the Italian junior and under-20 national teams. He competed on the World Select Team at the 2004 Nike Hoop Summit. He also featured in EuroBasket 2007, representing the Italian senior national team. Italy finished ninth in the competition, and in six games, Bargnani averaged 12.7 points and 5.0 rebounds in 28.7 minutes per game.

He was called up to the Italian squad that took part in EuroBasket 2015. Bargnani averaged 14.8 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, while Italy finished the tournament in sixth place.

Post-retirement In 2025, he was named LBA executive advisor.

Career statistics

NBA Regular season

Playoffs

EuroLeague

ACB

LBA

International career Year Competition GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG 2007 EuroBasket 6 6 28.7 .373 .360 .688 5.0 .5 .7 .2 12.7 2009 EuroBasket qualification 4 4 26.8 .400 .154 .625 5.0 .5 .3 1.0 10.8 2010 EuroBasket qualification 8 8 30.6 .524 .367 .732 6.6 .5 .5 2.0 24.1 2011 EuroBasket 5 3 34.2 .466 .350 .833 7.4 .8 .4 1.6 22.8 Career 23 20 30.2 .462 .330 .747 6.1 .6 .5 1.3 18.5

Awards and honours Team Italian League champion: 2006 2× Italian Cup champion: 2004, 2005

Individual EuroLeague Rising Star: 2006 Italian League Best Player Under 22: 2006 NBA All-Rookie First Team: 2007 NBA Live 08: Cover Athlete (Italian Version)