James Wiseman has been one of the key figures in the offseason for the Golden State Warriors. Whether it's analysts demanding for him to be traded, or others harping on how important he is to the future, the incoming sophomore has been the subject of debate ever since the Dubs were ousted from making the NBA playoffs. But there's apparently another young player making waves this offseason not named James Wiseman – his draft classmate Nico Mannion.
The Warriors guard who was born in Siena, Italy, has been a prominent fixture for the Italian Men's Basketball Team, leading them to a spot in the Tokyo Olympics. ESPN's international prospect expert Fran Fraschilla spoke out about how Mannion has been playing with his old ‘swag' back, per NBC Sports Bay Area.
“He was one of their two or three mainstays, their starting point guard, played with a lot of confidence, kinda the swag that we remember a little bit at Arizona and also on the AAU circuit, where he was one of the top players in the country,” Fraschilla said of the Warriors guard.
“More importantly for the Warriors, he was sensational in the qualifying round. Italy came out of nowhere, Nico was a big part of that, and I think his confidence level grew a little bit more. I think Steve Kerr and the staff and Bobby Myers are going to love that,” Fraschilla added.
Mannion averaged 17.7 points per game, ranking him as the third-leading scorer in the entire Olympic Qualifying Tournament which was held in Belgrade, Serbia. He also shot like Stephen Curry from distance, with a sterling 45.5 percent clip from deep. He also dropped 24 points on Serbia, who were considered the favorites to win out despite not having Nikola Jokic or Bogdan Bogdanovic on the roster.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGCgzvvCyvM
Team Italy made the Olympics again for the first time since 2004, and that's with Danilo Gallinari missing action while playing for the Atlanta Hawks in the postseason. Hopefully Nico Mannion can parlay this into a huge second season with the Golden State Warriors.
Follow Us
Subscribe