What Country is Nico Mannion From?

Nicolo Mannion, also known as Nico Mannion, is an Italian-American professional basketball player currently playing for the Saski Baskonia of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. Mannion was born in Siena, Tuscany, Italy. He was born to former NBA player Pace Mannion and Gaia Bianchi. He spent his early childhood there before moving to Salt Lake City, Utah before finally settling in Phoenix, Arizona.

Mannion played High School basketball for Pinnacle High School in Phoenix. As a freshman, Mannion was, simply put, spectacular. He was all world and even got featured in a Sports Illustrated article “A 15-Year-Old (Sorta-Maybe) Basketball Prodigy”. He led his high school to a 22-6 record while averaging 20.2 points in his freshman year. Entering his sophomore year, Mannion had a lot of hype. He had to miss the first four games of the season with a broken hand but when he came back to the court, it was the same magic as always. He led Pinnacle High School to a 24-7 record and averaged 23.4 points and 5.8 assists. By his senior season, Mannion was averaging an absurd 43.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 6.2 assists. He was named the Gatorade Arizona Player of the Year for the 3rd straight year. He was also named to Naismith All-American Third Team. Mannion was considered to be a consensus five-star recruit and received offers from Cal State Northridge, Duke, Marquette, and Villanova. In 2018, Mannion ended up committing to Arizona.

Mannion had a stellar season with the Arizona Wildcats. In the preseason, he was named to the preseason All-Pac12 Conference First Team. He had multiple games of scoring 20-plus points. He was named to the All-Pac12 second team and the All-Freshman team. Mannion averaged 14 points and 5.3 assists as a freshman. Following his freshman year, Mannion declared to the NBA draft. He was picked by the Golden State Warriors as the 48th overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft. He spent most of the season coming off the bench as a backup point guard and had to go back and forth between playing in the G-League and the NBA. After just one season with the Warriors, he got waived. He went back to Italy to play for Virtus Bologna of the Serie A. He signed a two-year contract with them, a team with ambitions to make it to the EuroCup and the EuroLeague. Since then, he recently signed with the Saski Baskonia of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague.

Nico Mannion’s Italian Career

Nico Mannion holds dual citizenship in both Italy and the United States. His father is from the United States while his mother is from Italy. In 2017, he tried for the United States under-16 team and was a finalist for the United States FIBA Under-16 World Cup team. However, he didn’t make the cut, and soon after he was contacted by the Italian Basketball Federation and joined the Italian Under-16 team. He has also represented Italy in the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifications. He was the fourth youngest player in the team’s history at the time to do so. For the first time in his career, he will be playing in the FIBA World Cup. He will be representing Italy in the 2023 FIBA World Cup which tips off on August 25th.