Nico Mannion is a new player for Varese Basketball
Nico Mannion è a new player of Varese Basketball
Varese Basketball has announced the signing of Niccolò Mannion, who will wear the red and white jersey until the end of next season. A 2001 class player, the "Red Mamba" è a talented point guard with strong offensive skills that allow him to be dangerous both as the main terminal and in favor of his teammates. Nico comes to Varese after starting the season in the ranks of Baskonia.
Maksim Horowitz, General Manager of Basketball Strategy of Varese Basketball, spoke as follows about the new addition: "Today we welcome Niccolò Mannion who officially becomes a player of our team. Nico è a young player who brings to our cause a unique combination of dynamism, creativity, skill and basketball intelligence. Being an Italian national team player, we know that Nico è is happy to return to Italy and play with the Varese jersey and we are equally happy that he can experience our fans and our city. We believe that he will fit in well with the team and our system of play. We believe that Nico can not only improve on our current season, but also that he himself can become even stronger. We look forward to seeing him play with us!".
The son of former U.S. basketball player Pace Mannion and Gaia Bianchi, a former Italian volleyball player, Niccolò was born in Siena on March 14, 2001. The family moved to the United States shortly thereafter and so Niccolò began taking his first steps in basketball on U.S. soil. In 2015 he attended the Pinnacle High School team where he put up incredible numbers (more than 30 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists per game average) practically matched in his first and only year of college, spent at the Arizona Wildcats. At the end of the 2019-2020 season, he declared himself eligible for the 2020 NBA Draft, where he was signed by his idol Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors. In the NBA he plays thirty games (career high of 19 points in the March 25 game against Sacramento Kings) before returning to Europe, to Italy, where for two years he plays for Virtus Bologna, winning two Italian Supercup and one EuroCup, and where he has the opportunity to make his Euroleague debut, an experience continued at the beginning of this season with the Baskonia jersey.
Mannion, despite his young age, already has a long militancy in the Italian national team, a team with which he made his debut at the age of 17 years, 3 months and 17 days (the fourth youngest rookie in the history of the Azzurri). With the jersey of the’Italbasket he has a high of 28 points in the challenge last Feb. 23 against the’Ukraine valid for the World Cup qualifiers.
