Italian federation president on Paolo Banchero: 'He fooled us'

Italian Basketball Federation president Gianni Petrucci didn’t take lightly Paolo Banchero’s decision to play for Team USA in the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Petrucci was disappointed with the lack of communication from Banchero. “It was a legitimate decision, but he could have made a call to communicate that to us. Instead, we learned about his decision from the newspapers,” Petrucci told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “In the past few days, he was in Milan, and despite our agreements with his agency, he avoided the meeting with coach Pozzecco.” “Betrayal, especially in basketball, is a strong word. Situations like this happen, and personally, I’m used to it. But he fooled us, we were planning a great commercial strategy for him. Now we need to turn this disappointment into positive energy, I’m sure our coach will be able to do it,” Petrucci added.
Source: BasketNews