21 years after the historic gold medal won at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, the activity of the Golden Generation has come to an end. This is because Carlos Delfino, the only player from that team coached by Rubén Magnano who was still active, announced his retirement from professional basketball, marking the end of one of the most successful squads in the history of Argentine sport.
Delfino, who until last season was still playing for Benedetto XIV Cento in the Italian A2 Series, announced that his 27-year professional career has come to an end. In a conversation with Doble Doble and with Julio Lamas present, the 43-year-old point guard said: “I’m doing very well, very happy. I don’t play anymore. I didn’t start the season, I’m not training and I’m not running, which is already a lot. I’m watching a lot of basketball and there are times when I miss it, but I feel good physically and that is priceless. I don’t play anymore”.
About the reasons for this decision, the former NBA player explained: “A few months ago there came a time that I thought would never come, which was making excuses to go to training and not wanting to go. It was a mix of things and I said ‘the time has come’. The truth is I’m doing very well, because I suffered many injuries, I suffered a lot with my physical condition and at one point I stopped for almost four years. This time I said ‘I’m fine, I’m whole and I can choose’. I feel that it’s over and I can leave peacefully”.
And it was minutes after this announcement, that the former player for Boca and Unión de Santa Fe also detailed his future desire and confessed: “I’m looking into the possibility of becoming a coach”.
Delfino’s career
The point guard took his first steps in professional basketball with Libertad de Sunchales, a team with which he played some games in the National League. After this brief stint with the team from Santa Fe, he went on to wear the jersey of his beloved Unión de Santa Fe. As a result of his great level at just 17 years old, Delfino was able to make the jump to European basketball and joined Viola Reggio Calabria in Italy.
After four years in the Italian league, where he also played for Fortitudo Bologna, the Argentine was chosen by the Detroit Pistons in the 25th position of the NBA draft. And it was there, that his career took another important leap: he made his long-awaited debut with the Argentine National Team -at the South American Championships in Campos, Brazil- and stayed nine years showing all his skill in the most important league in the world, where he played for the Toronto Raptors, Milwaukee Bucks and Houston Rockets, the team with which he had his best season in 2012/2013.
But it was in that great year with the team from Texas, that the shooting guard suffered a serious injury that sidelined him from the courts for more than three years. In a playoff game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Delfino suffered a fracture of the scaphoid bone in his right foot, which required him to undergo surgery seven times and forced him to stop playing for 47 months.
After a lengthy recovery, the player who already had the gold medal from the 2004 Olympic Games and the bronze from the 2008 Olympics with the Argentine National Team, returned to the National League to play with Boca, where he played some games. In the same 2017, Delfino returned to Europe and signed with Saski Baskonia, before moving to Italy, where he would spend the last years of his career.
In that country he played for Fiat Torino in the A Series (between 2018 and 2019), for Fortitudo Bologna in the A2 Series (between 2019 and 2020), for Victoria Libertas Pesaro (also in 2020) and for Benedetto XIV Cento in the A2 Series, the club where he finally decided to end his career in 2025.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.
View publisher imprintShare this article