Would you believe me if I told you that the Minnesota Timberwolves have the rights to an extremely bright prospect who was just leading a subpar team in the playoffs of one of Europe’s most competitive leagues?
Well, meet Matteo Spagnolo, a 20-year-old Italian shooting guard who is currently playing Trento, in his home country, but was selected by the Wolves as the 50th overall pick of the 2022 NBA Draft. Since then, he has just finished his third professional season overseas, and he showed some very positive signs. Let’s get to know him better first.
Playing with NBA-level talent?
In his very first season playing professionally, Matteo was signed with the most recent Euroleague Champions, Real Madrid, and was having a great season. He competed with star players like former Minnesota big Anthony Randolph, who led the team in scoring. He also saw action with European basketball legends like Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Llul, and the defensive monster that is Edy Tavares. He even had action with other more recent NBA players like Facundo Campazzo and Usman Garuba.
With this stacked team, the young Italian only played in one league game, not having many chances to play more as the season was interrupted due to the pandemic.
However, Spagnolo clearly learned a lot playing with this group of guys, as he was put on loan the following season, he played 25 games for Cremona, in the Italian league, and averaged 12.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game, with the team only winning 8 games.
Well, that appears to be quite promising. So now, let’s talk a little bit about what he has been up to a bit more recently:
Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Showing promise in the Italian league?
Still, without a place in the stacked Real Madrid roster, Matteo was loaned once again to Italy, but this time, to Trento, a team that finished the previous season near the bottom of the table and had no real expectations to do much that year too, with the three best scorers leaving the team, it was really Matteo’s time to shine.
Not shying away from the spotlight, the young Italian guard played a fantastic season. He averaged around 12 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.0 assists, and he did so in fewer minutes than his previous performance.
He made sure to show flashes of improvement in areas that really needed some tweaking. In his first season in Italy. For example, he had the eighth most total turnovers in the league in his first season of competition. The reason was simply plenty of bad playmaking decisions and hesitations with the ball. That resulted in turning the basketball over almost 3 times per game.
But this time around, he ended up reducing that number to 1.8 TO. While he still has a long way to go on this remark, his drastic improvement shows that his future sure does look promising.
Playing in the second-best European competition?
Playing for Trento also meant playing in the EuroCup, the second-tier of the renowned Euroleague, with the winners having the possibility of playing in the main competition, the stakes were very high.
From winning only one game last season to four wins this year, Matteo’s impact didn’t change no matter the stage he was playing, averaging very similar numbers to what he did in the national league.
He put on an astronomical performance against this year’s champions, Gran Canaria, scoring 23 points, four rebounds, and four assists, while also shooting 67 percent from the three-point line, something that is not frequent in his game.
Shining in the Playoffs
This Trento team had its best regular season record since 2019, reaching the Playoffs for the first time since that year, where they were eliminated in the first round. This year however, that outcome wasn’t much different, losing 3-1 to 3rd seed Tortona, but the focus here isn’t the elimination, it’s the individual performance of our intriguing prospect.
In game 1, Matteo had an all-around game, not excelling on any particular side of the court, but filling his stat sheet with 9.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists, in a loss by only one point.
In game 2, things started to heat up as Coach Emanuele Molin put some trust in Spagnolo and increased his minutes. The results were evident.
Although he lost, the Italian had himself a very solid game, with 17 points and five rebounds. Better yet, he was getting more and more confident. That confidence and bravado carried over into Game 3, the only win his team achieved. In the victory, Matteo had the most shots in his squad, scoring 16 points and getting 4 rebounds.
However, the real highlight was in Game 4. In that one, despite being awarded the LBA playoff top performer honor, his Trento team was eliminated from the competition. With an insane stat line of 23 points, 8 rebounds, and very good shooting efficiency, Matteo got to showcase his phenomenal skill in attacking the basket, his floater game, and even some mid-range shooting.
What’s the next step?
Well, after this insane performance in the Playoffs, Matteo returns to Real Madrid, where he is still under contract until 2024, but the future is very promising for the young Italian guard, as the Euroleague competition just keeps on getting better, him getting some reps in would be the best case scenario.
For now, Spagnolo has an entire off-season to improve his shooting, defense, and playmaking. After all, he wants to make sure to impress the Real Madrid staff that he deserves this opportunity to compete for their team. Still, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he just ended up somewhere on loan again, somewhere where they would bet on him as Trento did in the Playoffs. After all, for his final season in the Euroleague, that is exactly what the kid needs.
And then? He will be welcomed to the NBA by the Minnesota Timberwolves with open arms.