Franco Nicolás Balbi (born August 21, 1989), is an Argentinian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who currently plays with

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

in the

Liga Nacional de Básquet The Liga Nacional de Básquet (abbreviated LNB, and literally in English, "National Basketball League"), also commonly referred to as "La Liga de Básquet" ("The Basketball League"), is the top-tier level of the Argentine basketball league system ...

. At a height of 6'2" (1.88 m) tall, he plays at the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

position.

Professional career

Balbi started playing youth

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

basketball with Club Villa Belgrano, in the city of Junín, when he was 5. He also played with Los Indios de Junín at the youth level, before arriving at

Ciclista Juninense Club Ciclista Juninense is an Argentine sports club based in Junín, Buenos Aires. It was founded as a cycling club, but basketball has become the main sport of the club. The squad plays in the La Liga Argentina de Básquet The La Liga Argentina ...

, where he made his debut in Argentina's top-level league, the

(LNB), on January 14, 2007, against

Regatas Corrientes Club de Regatas Corrientes, usually just Regatas Corrientes, is a sports club of Corrientes, Argentina, located on the river side of the Paraná river. Although Regatas was born as a rowing institution, the club is mostly recognized due to its ba ...

. The following season, Ciclista Juninense got

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

, and had to play in Argentina's second division, the Torneo Nacional de Ascenso (TNA). Balbi turned into a key player on the team, including playing more minutes and having good games, which made

Quimsa Asociación Atlética Quimsa, usually called simply Quimsa, is an Argentine sports club located in the city of Santiago del Estero in the homonymous province. The club's professional basketball team plays in the Liga Nacional de Básquet (LNB) ...

from

Santiago del Estero Santiago del Estero (, Spanish for ''Saint-James-Upon-The-Lagoon'') is the capital of Santiago del Estero Province in northern Argentina. It has a population of 252,192 inhabitants, () making it the twelfth largest city in the country, with a surf ...

, sign him up for the 2009–10 LNB season, marking his return to the Argentine first division. That same season, he suffered a severe injury that made him lose minutes the following season, and that ultimately led Quimsa to terminate his contract. He quickly managed to find a new club, San Martín de Corrientes, which he helped achieve a league promotion to the Argentine first division, by finishing as runner-ups in the Torneo Nacional de Ascenso (TNA). In the following season, he returned to

, to play in the second division. After two good seasons, he signed with the club's local rivals,

Argentino de Junín Club Atlético Argentino de Junín, known simply as Argentino de Junín, is a professional basketball club based in Junín, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argen ...

, for the 2013–14 LNB season, were he would return to play under his first professional

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

, Adrián Capelli. With

, he played in both the 2013–14 season of the

, and the

Liga Sudamericana de Básquetbol The Liga Sudamericana de Básquetbol (LSB), or FIBA Liga Sudamericana de Básquetbol (Portuguese: ''Liga Sul-Americana de Basquete'', English: ''South American Basketball League''), also commonly known as FIBA South American League, is the secon ...

(FIBA South American League). It was a great season, for both him and the club, with the team making the semifinals of both tournaments. In the 2014–15 LNB season, he became a regular starter for Argentino de Junín, and once again played in the

and the

. He became an established player in the top level Argentinian league, and received noticeable coverage from the local press.

Ferro

On May 23, 2016, Balbi signed with Ferro, for the Argentine

2016–17 Liga Nacional de Básquet season The 2016–17 Liga Nacional de Básquet season was the 33rd season of the top professional basketball league in Argentina. The regular season started on 22 September 2016. San Lorenzo won their second title in a row, defeating Regatas Corrientes i ...

Flamengo

On June 21, 2018, Balbi signed with the Brazilian NBB club

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

, for the 2018–19 NBB season, which marked his first club playing experience outside of Argentina.

2018–2019

In his first year with

Balbi had a successful season winning the

Rio de Janeiro State Championship The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Port., Rio de Janeiro State Championship), was started in 1906 and is the annual football championship in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Br ...

, Brazilian Super 8 Cup and the NBB league. Besides that he was elected the league's Best Foreign Player and selected to the

All-NBB Team The Novo Basquete Brasil awards ( English: New Basketball Brazil awards) are the yearly individual awards that are given by Brazil's top-tier level men's professional club basketball league, the Novo Basquete Brasil (NBB) (New Basketball Brazil). ...

, averaging 10.8 ppg and 5.7 apg in 26 regular season games.

2019–2020

On June 19, 2019, Balbi re-signed with

for one more year.

National team career

After a good 2014–15 LNB season with

, he was selected to the senior

Argentine national basketball team The Argentina men's national basketball team (Spanish: ''Selección de baloncesto de Argentina'') represents Argentina in men's international basketball officially nicknamed ''The Argentine Soul'' (Spanish: ''El Alma Argentina''), and it is co ...

for the first time. He made his debut against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, in Olavarría.

Career statistics

LNB career statistics

NBB regular season

NBB playoffs

References

External links

FIBA ProfileLatinbasket.com ProfileNovo Basquete Brasil Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balbi, Franco 1989 births Living people Argentine expatriate basketball people in Brazil Argentine men's basketball players Argentino de Junín basketball players Ciclista Juninense basketball players Club San Martín de Corrientes basketball players Ferro Carril Oeste basketball players Flamengo basketball players Boca Juniors basketball players Novo Basquete Brasil players People from Junín, Buenos Aires Point guards Quimsa basketball players Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province