Media: Marco Belinelli in Action | Highlights
July 7, 2016 – Charlotte Hornets General Manager Rich Cho announced today that the team has acquired guard/forward Marco Belinelli from the Sacramento Kings in exchange for the draft rights to guard Malachi Richardson, who was selected with the 22nd overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.
“We are excited to be adding a high-caliber player in Marco Belinelli to our roster,” Cho said. “Marco is a solid outside shooter and has proven he can score and create for others in a variety of ways over the course of his nine-year NBA career. He brings veteran leadership to our locker room and we think he’ll mesh with our core group well.”
The 18th overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, Belinelli is entering his 10th NBA season. He has played in 570 career games (216 starts) for Golden State, Toronto, New Orleans, Chicago, San Antonio and Sacramento, winning an NBA Championship with the Spurs in 2014. Belinelli owns career averages of 9.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 23.0 minutes per game, while shooting .424 from the field (1940-4576), .379 from beyond the three-point line (751-1979) and .821 from the free throw line (798-972). In 2014, Belinelli won the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest at All-Star weekend in New Orleans. He began his career in the Italian SerieA League, playing there for five seasons from 2002-07.
The San Giovanni in Persiceto, Italy native played in 68 games (seven starts) for Sacramento in 2015-16, averaging 10.2 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 24.6 minutes per game. Belinelli had 31 double-figure scoring outings in 2015-16, including four 20-plus point games, and hit multiple three-point field goals in 29 contests.
Belinelli has been a member of the Italian National Team since 2006, competing in the FIBA World Championship in 2006 and in the FIBA European Championship in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015. He is currently representing his country in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.