Former Toronto Raptors fan fave calls it a career after 23 pro seasons
After more than two decades of pro basketball and a stint with the Toronto Raptors, an NBA mainstay is calling it a career.
Marco Belinelli announced that he’s calling it quits, having most recently played for Virtus Bologna of the Italian League.
“Basketball gave me everything… and I gave it everything I had. Saying goodbye isn’t easy. But it’s time,” Belinelli wrote on social media. I carry with me every emotion, every sacrifice, every cheer. Thank you to those who always believed. To the next generation—I leave a dream. Make it count.”
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Belinelli averaged 7.1 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 66 games for the Raptors in his career, all of which came in the 2009-10 season. His career officially counts as the “journeyman” category, having played for nine NBA teams over the course of his 14-year career.
He last played on the San Antonio Spurs in 2019-20, playing 57 games that season, and has been playing in Bologna ever since. He played two stints with the Spurs, winning an NBA title with them in 2014, and remains the only Italian NBA player ever to do so.
While he might not have been in the NBA anymore, Belinelli was still hooping at a high level right until the end, winning the Italian League MVP in the 2023-24 season.
“Definitely it is something beautiful,” Belinelli said last year. “Until now, it never happened to me to be MVP of the Italian championship, and this fills me with happiness. However, it is not only thanks to me but to the team, my teammates, the technical staff, the medical staff, the physiotherapists and of course the [people in town]. I thank everyone who voted for me, but now we have something much more important to win on court as a club, and we will try to do it.”
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