13-Year NBA Veteran, Former Kings Guard Announces Retirement

Belinelli started playing basketball in the Italian Serie A and EuroLeague for two Bologna-based squads before being drafted in the first round of the 2007 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors. Marco had a bit of a hard time sticking on a team until he signed with the Chicago Bulls and later, the San Antonio Spurs.

With the Spurs, Belinelli built his reputation as a clutch shooter while helping the team to the 13/14 NBA championship. After two solid years in San Antonio, the Kings signed Belinelli to provide some much-needed shooting. 

Belinelli was walking onto a Kings team that had DeMarcus Cousins, Rajon Rondo, Rudy Gay, Darren Collison, and most expected them to be competitive. Even though Cousins had one of the best years of his career and Rondo led the league in assists, the team ended up winning just 34 games.

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Belinelli, a career 38% three-point shooter, had the worst year of his career for Sacramento. After signing him to a 3-year deal, the team hoped that the Italian off-guard would be able to provide a spark off the bench, but the team needed a lot more than him to be competitive.

Turmoil between the players and coaching staff, as well as injuries, doomed the team to mediocrity, while head coach George Karl, Rondo, Seth Curry, and Caron Butler joined Belinelli on the list of early exits. 

Belinelli still had some good moments in Sacramento, including a 28-point performance against the Philadelphia 76ers, but the sum of his year doesn’t compare to the heights he reached elsewhere. Belinelli was the first (and only, depending on the definition) Italian player to win an NBA championship and the only Italian to win a three-point contest.

That shooting is exactly what Sacramento was hoping could push them over the edge after missing the playoffs the previous nine seasons. One of the more odd stats is that Rondo, Cousins, and Gay all shot better than Belinelli during his lone year in Sacramento, despite being much worse shooters for their careers. 

Looking back on his numbers, it looks like Belinelli truly forgot how to shoot when he got to Sacramento. 31% wasn’t just Belinelli’s worst career mark; it was his worst by a significant margin.

In fact, Belinelli never shot worse than 35.7% in any other season. There’s no explanation for players’ shooting going out the window in Sacramento, but he’s far from the sole example. Donte Divincenzo had a decent year from deep with the Kings, but shot just 36% from the field after being acquired midseason.

Kevin Huerter had always been known as a great shooter, but after two good seasons in Sac, he shot a career low 30% before being traded last season. Huerter and DiVincenzo both improved on their poor shooting after leaving Sacramento, like Belinelli did, which makes us wonder if there’s some sort of curse on Kings’ shooters with European roots. 

Belinelli is definitely on the Caron Butler/Vince Carter list of guys you really can’t believe played for the Kings, but that doesn’t take away from his great career. If anything, Belinelli is a bit of a reminder of how Sacramento’s dysfunction can stymie skilled players and stop any momentum in its tracks.

It’s also a reminder of the Kings overpaying in free agency while not getting the value they need back. It isn’t by much, but the Kings handed Belinelli the highest AAV of his career and traded him after one season for a player who played in just 45 games for the Kings over two seasons. 

For Belinelli, he gets to retire as one of the most successful Italian players of all time, joining Andrea Bargnani, Danilo Gallinari, and Simone Fontecchio as the most well-known Italian-born players in history.

His time with the Kings wasn’t noteworthy, but as just the 5th Italian-born player to ever play in the league, he can look past that tough year and be proud of the path he’s helping pave for future Italian players, like Fontecchio. Congrats to Beli on a great career in the NBA, and In Bocca al Lupo for his life after basketball.