Emanuel “Manu” Ginobili (45), Olympic champion with Argentina in 2004 and four-time NBA champion with the San Antonio Spurs (2003, 2005, 2007, 2014), was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday, the US basketball hall of fame.
“I was part of two of the greatest teams of the 2000s”
Before arriving in the United States, he also won the Euroleague in 2001 with Virtus Bologna. In total, Ginobili played 16 seasons in the NBA, all at Spurs. ” I’m not here because I was very special, but because I was part of two of the greatest teams of the 2000s, San Antonio and Argentina “, he said in his speech in Springfield (Massachusetts), where the Hall of Fame is held.
Elected twice to the All-Star Game, the Argentine player formed the major trio of Spurs, with pivot Tim Duncan and point guard Tony Parker, under the orders of coach Gregg Popovich. These three players have won 575 regular season games together.
Winner of the USA at the 2002 World Cup
With Argentina, Manu Ginobili was also a finalist of the World Championship in 2002. During this competition, he was part of the team that beat for the first time an American selection entirely composed of NBA players. Argentina had dominated the USA (87-80) in the main round.
On Saturday, six other big names in US basketball entered the Hall of Fame: Tim Hardaway, the former glory of the Golden State Warriors in the 1990s, coaches George Karl, Del Harris and Marianne Stanley and two ex-WNBA players: Swin Cash and Lindsay Whalen.
