NBA champ announces retirement from basketball: ‘Gave it my heart’

Published On: August 20, 2025

Marco Belinelli, a former guard for the San Antonio Spurs and an NBA champion, declared his retirement from basketball on Monday.

The Spurs were Belinelli’s last NBA team during the 2019–20 campaign. He is 39 years old. He started his professional basketball career in 2001–02 and has played for Virtus Bologna in his home country of Italy for the past five seasons.

I put my heart into it. All of me. Each and every day. “I gave it everything I had, and basketball gave me everything,” Belinelli posted on Instagram. It’s not simple to say goodbye. However, the time has come. Every feeling, every sacrifice, and every joy are carried by me. To the people who never stopped believing, thank you. I leave a dream for the following generation. Make it matter.

In the first round of the 2007 NBA Draft, the Golden State Warriors selected 13-year NBA veteran Belinelli with the 18th overall pick. In his 13 NBA seasons, the shooting guard played for eight different teams, but his most significant contribution was during his first tenure in San Antonio, when the Spurs won the NBA title in 2014.

Belinelli played for the Toronto Raptors, Sacramento Kings, Charlotte Hornets, Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, and the then-New Orleans Hornets in addition to the Warriors and Spurs.

In 860 games, including 219 starts, Belinelli finished his NBA career with averages of 9.7 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.7 assists on 42.4% shooting, including 37.6% from three-point range.

According to NBC Sports, Belinelli most recently won the Sixth Man of the Year award in 2022 and the Lega Basket Serie A MVP award in 2024. In 2021 and 2025, he also assisted Virtus Bologna in capturing two Serie A championships.

As the first Italian player to win an NBA title, Belinelli has had an incredible career and undoubtedly influenced a generation of young players in his native country, according to David Campbell, sports manager for cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer.