Warriors' 1st-round pick retires after championship NBA career

Billy Heyen

Warriors' 1st-round pick retires after championship NBA career image

It's been a long time since the Golden State Warriors made the 18th overall selection in the 2007 NBA Draft.

But after a long basketball journey, that pick has finally retired.

The Warriors chose Italian shooting guard Marco Belinelli with that first-rounder.

Belinelli went on to play for the Spurs, Hornets, Bulls, Kings, Raptors, Hawks and 76ers after two seasons in Golden State.

He was a 2014 NBA champion with San Antonio.

And now, after five years playing in his native Italy and a championship this week with Virtus Bologna, Belinelli is retiring, according to EuroHoops.

Belinelli played 75 total games across two seasons with the Warriors, starting 23 of them. He made 39.5% of his 3-pointers and averaged 6.2 points per game.

All told, he played 860 NBA games and averaged 9.7 points.

The Warriors traded him away in July 2009 for Devean George and cash, an odd trade then and now. George played just 45 games for the Warriors before his NBA career was over.

The 39-year old has traveled a long hoops journey since then, and now it's finally complete.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle