Basket Torino Overhauls Its Roster: Many Departures, Deals with Several Clubs

Tuesday will mark the official presentation of Bruno Palombella as the new head of Basket Torino. The new owner will explain to the city the reasons that led him to acquire 100% of the club’s shares and outline the plans designed to bring the club back to the top, while at the same time regaining the support and enthusiasm of the fans. In the meantime, the club has already begun work on finalizing the roster for next season. Paolo Moretti will remain head coach, with Andrea Lazzari confirmed as his assistant.

The team, however, will undergo a major overhaul. Captain Matteo Schina has already left Turin, having chosen to accept an offer from Pistoia, coached by Franco Ciani; Giovanni Severini, recently announced by Rieti; and Umberto Stazzonelli, who is set to begin a new chapter with Fortitudo Bologna. There will also be a complete overhaul under the basket, where Lorenzo Tortù, Marco Cusin, and Davide Bruttini—who is headed to Juvi Cremona—will no longer be part of the team. Robert Allen’s tenure also appears to be coming to an end. The cornerstones for the team’s rebuild will be Federico Massone—around whom the new backcourt will be built alongside a young point guard—and Matteo Ghirlanda, whose retention appears increasingly likely.

The turning point marked by Palombella’s arrival comes at the end of particularly turbulent weeks for the club, which had been grappling with persistent rumors of a possible departure from the city. In recent days, the club had strongly denied the rumors circulating in Italian basketball circles, according to which owner David Avino had received an offer of approximately 600,000 euros for the sale of the Serie A2 franchise. In an official statement, Basket Torino clarified that “no negotiations aimed at transferring the team’s operations to other cities have ever been initiated or undertaken,” while reaffirming that it had duly initiated the procedures for registration in the upcoming Serie A2 season.

A grassroots movement had also taken shape with the launch of the “Save Torino Basket” petition, following the example of what happened in Trieste, where a similar petition had gathered over 8,000 signatures. This is a tangible sign of how much basketball means to the city—far more than just a team—and that now, with Palombella’s arrival, a concrete solution at the club level finally seems to be in sight.