Under The Radar: Simone Fontecchio's improbable journey to the NBA
Simone Fontecchio is surrounded by teammates after his game-winning dunk against the Warriors in December.
It’s Dec. 7 at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City. The Utah Jazz trail the defending NBA champions Golden State Warriors by one with 6.9 seconds left on the clock.
On the ensuing inbounds pass, Nickeil Alexander-Walker swarms Jordan Poole, stripping the ball loose. It trickles to Malik Beasley, who scoops it off the hardwood, runs the floor and finds a streaking Simone Fontecchio to finish off a wide-open dunk with 1.4 seconds remaining.
“YES, FONTECCHIO!” Jazz play-by-play announcer Craig Bolerjack yells with joy as the Warriors throw the ball away, and the Jazz secure an epic victory.
Vivint Arena is in pandemonium. Jazz players are hugging. Fontecchio is beaming ear to ear.
“It was a crazy game,” Fontecchio told NBA.com with a chuckle. “You sit back and look at all the work you put in, all the sacrifice you’ve made the last 10 years. It’s definitely worth it.”
Fontecchio’s long and arduous journey to the league started in Pescara, Italy where basketball was in his blood. His mother and grandfather both played for the Italian national team, and his older brother was an impressive youth player.
“They were a big influence,” Fontecchio said. “When I was younger, I always wanted to play against [my brother]. I wanted to be like him.”
When Fontecchio was 14, he moved north to Bologna to join the club team Virtus Bologna. After rising through the program’s youth ranks, he was offered a professional contract at 17, an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.
Fontecchio admitted that playing in the NBA was always a distant reality. After all, only 10 Italian players before him have ever played in the league.
“Growing up, you don’t really think about [the NBA],” Fontecchio said. “It’s so tough and difficult to even imagine. You just want to have fun and your goal is to be a [professional] basketball player, but you never really know which level you’re going to reach.”
Fontecchio kept his head down and let his play do the talking. He was named Lega Basket’s Best Player Under 22 in 2014-15, an award previously won by Italian NBA players Andrea Bargnani and Danilo Gallinari. His work was paying off, and he got an opportunity few from his country receive—a shot at the NBA.
After declaring for the NBA Draft in 2015, Fontecchio attended a Boston Celtics pre-draft workout. He spoke to Celtics general manager Danny Ainge, and the team took interest in him.
A few days after the tryout, Fontecchio’s agent withdrew his name from the draft.
“I don’t know if it was the right choice,” Fontecchio said.
Perhaps he wasn’t ready for the NBA just yet. He didn’t understand much about the draft process, and he was just a 19-year-old kid 4,000 miles away from home.
After returning to Italy, Fontecchio struggled for a few seasons, resulting in a move to German club Alba Berlin. There, he rediscovered his game and everything began to click just as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were approaching. He was ready for the world’s biggest stage.
Fontecchio couldn’t wait to represent his country under the bright lights.
“I love it,” Fontecchio said when asked about donning the blue and white. “It’s a great feeling every time I get the chance to wear the national team uniform.”
With the pressure of the whole world watching and the weight of Italy on his shoulders, Fontecchio went off. In four games, he averaged 19.3 points per game, 7th highest of any player in the tournament. He shot an astounding 52.7% from the field and 45.5% from deep on the way to a fifth-place finish for the Italians in their first Olympic appearance since 2004.
Fontecchio recalls analysts wondering why this 6-foot-7 forward who shoots lights out from beyond the arc wasn’t in the NBA.
“I started thinking to myself, maybe I really have a shot [at the NBA],” he said. “But I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”
Simone Fontecchio and Italian teammate Danilo Gallinari at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Fontecchio rode the momentum from the Olympics into his next season at Baskonia. Little did he know, an old acquaintance was keeping a watchful eye on him. Seven years after Danny Ainge witnessed the 19-year-old prospect for the first time, he wanted Fontecchio again.
After back-and-forth conversations between the Jazz and Fontecchio during the summer of 2022, the deal seemed unlikely. He was so close yet again, and it appeared that he would come up short of reaching the pinnacle of the sport.
When all hope had seemingly vanished, Fontecchio woke up on July 15 to an offer from the Jazz.
“We were so shocked,” he said. “My family was really, really happy.”
Simone was off to Salt Lake City, and to the United States for the first time since his pre-draft workout in 2015.
On top of living in a place he had never been to before, Fontecchio also had to build chemistry with his new teammates.
“Everybody’s been amazing with me,” Fontecchio said. “[They] make me feel like part of a big family.”
In the locker room, Fontecchio laughs and jokes with his locker buddy and fellow rookie Walker Kessler, and he is close with fellow European Lauri Markkanen.
Fontecchio' leads Jazz over Warriors.
With just a few preseason games and practices under his belt, Fontecchio had little time to adapt to the league’s playing style. After playing professional basketball in Europe for 10 years, the differences — rules, length of game, timeout distribution and style of scoring — were evident to him.
However, he took advantage of his first meaningful NBA minutes, notching 13 points on three 3-pointers in the Jazz’s fourth game of the season against the Houston Rockets.
“That was the first real moment when I thought, ‘OK, this is the NBA. You’re an NBA player. Enjoy this,’” Fontecchio said. “It lasted like 10 seconds and then it was ‘Just go back to work.’”
Fontecchio has been getting more playing time after the trade deadline and is executing when his name is called. In his last 14 games, he is averaging 10.7 points and shooting 37.3% from 3-point range. Along the way, he put up a career-high 26 points against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Fontecchio is signed with the Jazz through next season, and his hard-nosed approach and focus on handling his responsibilities one day at a time might ensure a successful NBA career.
