One veteran NBA guard has pulled up for his last triple.
Marco Belinelli announced in a post to his Instagram page on Monday that he is retiring as a player. Belinelli is hanging them up after 13 total seasons played in the NBA and another nine seasons played overseas.
“I gave it my heart,” he wrote in his caption. “Every piece of me. Every single day. Basketball gave me everything… and I gave it everything I had. Saying goodbye isn’t easy. But it’s time. 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.”
Now 39 years old, Belinelli began his professional career in 2002 playing in his native Italy at just 16 years old. He was then drafted by the Golden State Warriors with a first-round pick in 2007 (No. 18 overall) and carved out a nice NBA career for himself as a sharpshooter.
Belinelli was a 37.6 percent overall three-point shooter in the NBA and played for Golden State, Toronto, New Orleans, Chicago, San Antonio, Sacramento, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Philadelphia. He won the NBA’s Three Point Contest at All-Star Weekend in 2014 as a member of the San Antonio Spurs and was also on the Spurs team that won the NBA championship later that very same year.
Though he last played in the league for the Spurs during the 2020 Orlando bubble, Belinelli had spent the last five seasons back at Virtus Bologna, his boyhood club in Italy. He won two league championships as well as a EuroCup title with Virtus Bologna over the last half-decade and was even named Lega Serie A MVP in 2024. Now Belinelli is ready to call it a day after a very fruitful multi-country career (during which he earned the respect of some surprising NBA names as well).
