Pablo Prigioni


Pablo Prigioni is an Argentine professional basketball coach and a former player. He played at the point guard position. He was a two-time All-EuroLeague selection and was also a member of the senior Argentina national basketball team that won the bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He is the oldest rookie in NBA history, making his debut with the New York Knicks in 2012, at age 35. He played 4 seasons in the NBA for the New York Knicks, Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Clippers before starting his coaching career in 2017.

Professional playing career

Argentina

Prigioni began his professional career with Ramallo of the Argentine LNB League during the 1995–96 season. He then moved to Belgrano San Nicolás in 1996, before transferring to Obras Sanitarias in 1998.

Europe

In 1999, Prigioni moved to the Spanish club Fuenlabrada, where he stayed until 2001. In 2001, Prigioni joined the Spanish club Lucentum Alicante, and he played there until 2003. In 2003, Prigioni joined the EuroLeague team Baskonia. With Baskonia he won several titles, including: 3 Spanish King's Cups in the years 2004, 2006, 2009; 4 Spanish Supercups in the years 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008; and the Spanish League championship in 2008.
In 2009, he joined Real Madrid. In August 2011, he returned to Baskonia, signing a one-year deal.

NBA

On July 24, 2012, Prigioni signed a one-year contract with the New York Knicks for the rookie minimum. At age 35, Prigioni became the oldest rookie in NBA history, when he made his debut on November 2, 2012. He became the team's starting point guard for the last two months of the 2012–13 season, as well as for the playoffs. In game 6 of the Knicks' first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics, Prigioni made 3 three-pointers in the first quarter. The Knicks won 88–80, to advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in 13 years.
On July 10, 2013, Prigioni re-signed with the Knicks.
On February 19, 2015, Prigioni was traded to the Houston Rockets, in exchange for Alexey Shved, and two second-round draft picks.
On July 20, 2015, the Rockets traded Prigioni, Joey Dorsey, Nick Johnson, Kostas Papanikolaou, a 2016 first-round draft pick, and cash considerations, to the Denver Nuggets, in exchange for Ty Lawson and a 2017 second-round draft pick. Prigioni was immediately waived by Denver, upon being acquired.
On August 3, 2015, Prigioni signed with the Los Angeles Clippers. On January 13, 2016, he had a career-high eight steals against the Miami Heat, which was one shy of the franchise record, held by his head coach, Doc Rivers. On April 8, 2016, he recorded a season-high 13 points, a career-high seven rebounds, and a season-high seven assists, in a 102–99 overtime win over the Utah Jazz.
On July 29, 2016, Prigioni signed with the Houston Rockets, returning to the franchise for a second stint. However, he was waived by the Rockets on October 24, 2016, after appearing in five preseason games with them.

Return to Europe and retirement

On December 5, 2016, Prigioni returned to Baskonia, signing with them for the rest of the season. He officially retired from his professional basketball playing career on January 9, 2017. During his professional career, Prigioni played in 10 EuroLeague seasons, in which he had career averages of 6.1 points, 4.3 assists, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.7 steals per game, and in four NBA seasons, in which he had career regular season averages of 3.5 points, 2.8 assists, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.0 steals per game.

Coaching career

On 16 June 2017, Prigioni began his coaching career, when he signed a two-year deal with Baskonia, to become their new head coach. However, on October 26, Prigioni stepped down as Baskonia head coach, after having a 0–3 start in the EuroLeague and a 2–3 start in the Liga ACB. On 24 April 2018, he joined the Brooklyn Nets as an assistant coach. During the 2018–19 NBA season, the Nets returned to the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2015. On 7 June 2019, he was hired by the Minnesota Timberwolves as an assistant coach. He coached the Wolves in the 2019 Las Vegas Summer League and was put in charge of the team's offense for the following season.

National team career

As a member of the Argentine senior men's national basketball team, Prigioni played at the 2006 FIBA World Championship. He won silver medals at the 2003 FIBA Americas Championship and 2007 FIBA Americas Championship. Prigioni was also a member of the Argentina national team that competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics and won the bronze medal. He also won the bronze medal at the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship, and the gold medal at the 2011 FIBA Americas Championship.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

NBA

Regular season

Playoffs

Awards and accomplishments

Pro career