Official: Serie A basketball returns to the capital with a project involving big names in American basketball. The Cremona club has been acquired and the candidacy for NBA Europe has been presented.
Great basketball returns to Rome, a place that for too many years has been out of the mainstream of the basketball sport. It does this thanks to a group of investors led by Donnie Nelsonhistoric NBA executive with a long career as a creator of winning projects, and among the fathers of the operation there is also the star Luka Doncic. The vehicle is the acquisition of the sporting rights of Vanoli Cremona, a basketball team that plays in Serie A and which will be transferred to the capital with a new name and a new image. So she will be ready for the starting line next season, bringing professional basketball back to Rome with the hope of reviving the glories of the Eighties and Nineties.
The project, however, does not stop at the sole objective of returning Italian basketball to its place in Rome. On the day in which the purchase of Vanoli Cremona and its subsequent transfer was made official, the group of investors led by Donnie Nelson presented its candidacy as Rome’s representative for NBA Europe. “Roma deserves to have a top-level basketball team and we are happy to be able to contribute to bringing it back to the top,” declared Donnie Nelson, leader of the project. «Vanoli Cremona has an important history and we will strive to honor this tradition as we build an exciting future in Rome. This city has been waiting too long for high-level basketball to return. But now everything will change. We will make the resources, experience and passion available to make this club a source of pride for Rome and for all of Italy.”
“I’ve dreamed of owning a team in Europe for a long time, and it’s truly incredible that this dream has finally come true,” said Luka Doncic. «Vanoli Cremona has a great history behind it and we are ready to take it to new levels in Rome. We have an extraordinary group of partners and I truly believe that we can create something special for basketball in Italy and Europe.” The seriousness of the intentions of those leading the operation is also demonstrated by the level of the people involved.
Donnie Nelson, leader of the team, has been a figure of reference in the professional world of the NBA for over thirty years and was, among other things, general manager of the NBA champions Dallas Mavericks in 2011. Luka Doncic was born in Ljubljana, he spent time with Real Madrid before arriving in the States. Also involved Valerio Bianchini who is one of the best-known faces in the history of Italian basketball. He signed Roma’s legendary conquest of the European Cup. Rimantas Kaukėnas also joins the property, first a player and then a long-time manager. He was also in Italy and was one of the pillars of Mens Sana Siena, then he played for Real Madrid and was a star of the Lithuanian national team.
