Fabricio Raúl Jesús Oberto (; born March 21, 1975) is an Argentine-ItalianEuroleague.net OBERTO, FABRICIO Nationality: Italy.
/ref> color analyst and former 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. At , he played as a

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

and power forward. With the LNB club

Atenas Atenas () is a district of the Atenas canton, in the Alajuela province of Costa Rica. Its urban area is referred as Atenas city. Toponymy Its name means Athens ''(Αθήνα)'', the capital of Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officia ...

, in his native Argentina, Oberto began playing professionally in 1993, and later played overseas with teams in Spain and Greece. In 2005, Oberto signed with the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

, a team of the American

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA), and won a championship with the Spurs in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

. He is also a former member of the senior

Argentina 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 ...

. He was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2019.

Professional career

Argentina and Europe

At age 17, Oberto went to a trial at Atenas de Córdoba, one of the most important basketball clubs in Argentina, and was selected to start the following year, and started playing professionally later that year. In 1998, after being chosen MVP of the finals of the Argentine league, he transferred to the Greek League club

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a numbe ...

, starting his EuroLeague experience that would take him to the Spanish League's

TAU Cerámica Club Deportivo Saski-Baskonia, S.A.D., commonly known as Saski Baskonia (), also known as Cazoo Baskonia for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball team that is based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the ...

a year later. After 3 seasons with TAU, he moved to

Pamesa Valencia Valencia Basket Club S.A.D., commonly known as Valencia Basket (), is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague, with home games played at the Fuente de San Luis. The club is spons ...

in 2002.

NBA career

In 2005, after voiding his contract with Pamesa, Oberto signed a three-year, US$7.5 million contract with the

of the NBA, where he joined fellow

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

Manu Ginóbili. He kept with jersey number 7, the same kit number he used with the

. Oberto was the oldest rookie in Spurs history at the age of 31.NBA.com: Fabricio Oberto Bio Page
During the first year of his NBA stint, Oberto was no longer the key player he had been in Europe, playing less than nine minutes per game on average. He nonetheless was very satisfied with his role on the Spurs, a perennial championship contender. In his second NBA season, Oberto became more of a factor in the Spurs rotation, starting in some games and getting his first double-double on November 8, 2006, when he scored 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. He also became a pivotal player for the Spurs during the 2006–07 Western Conference Finals, averaging 31 minutes and 14 points in the first two games of the series. Oberto won an NBA championship with the Spurs in 2007. On June 23, 2009, Oberto was traded to the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

as a part of a three-team trade among Pistons, Spurs and the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 196 ...

, which included

Richard Jefferson Richard Allen Jefferson Jr. (born June 21, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on ESPN. He played college basketball with the Arizona Wildcats. Jefferson was drafted in the first round of the 20 ...

. Then he was immediately waived by the Pistons. On August 11, 2009, he was signed by the Wizards. Since jersey number 7 was already taken by Andray Blatche, he chose to wear number 21 because of his birth date (March 21) and in honor of one of his idols, former teammate Tim Duncan. After a single season in which he got limited playing time as the team struggled through the Gilbert Arenas gun incident and ultimately began to rebuild, he became a free agent once more in the summer of 2010. Oberto was a significant contributor defending

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

for its fifth-place finish at the

2010 FIBA World Championship The 2010 FIBA World Championship was the 16th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship contested by the men's national teams. The tournament ran from 28 August to 12 September 2010. It was co-organised by the Inte ...

. After his solid play during the World Championship in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, he received multiple offers from European teams, most notably

Efes Pilsen Anadolu Efes Biracılık ve Malt Sanayii A.Ş.''(lit. Anadolu Efes Brewery and Malt Industries)'' produces and markets beer and malt and non-alcoholic beverages in a wide geographical area comprising Turkey, Russia, the Commonwealth of Independ ...

and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. Oberto held out for an opportunity to sign with an NBA team. He reached an agreement to join the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

for the 2010–11 season. However, on November 4, 2010, after playing five games for Portland, he began experiencing palpitations related to a previous heart condition and decided to retire in order to preserve his health.

Return to activity

In January 2013, Oberto signed a contract with his former team, Atenas de Córdoba, returning to the Liga Nacional de Básquetbol after 14 years. Oberto was hired for the remainder of the season as a replacement for

Julián Aprea, who had been separated from the team by coach Alejandro Lotterio and then dismissed at the end of 2012.

National team career

Oberto started playing with the

shortly before his 20th birthday in 1995; tournament success followed, including bringing to Argentina a gold medal at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. In July 2011, Oberto announced that he was coming out of retirement to play in the

FIBA Americas Championship The FIBA AmeriCup (previously known as the FIBA Americas Championship) is the Americas Basketball Championship that takes place every four years between national teams of the Western Hemisphere continents. Since FIBA organised the entire West ...

. He said that doctors had cleared him to participate. Personal problems prevented him from playing for Argentina in the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

Accomplishments and awards

Clubs

* Argentine Youth League Champion: 1993 * South American Club Championship champion: 1994 * Pan American Club Championship champion: 1996 *

FIBA South American League The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its na ...

champion: 1997, 1998 * Argentine League champion: 1998 * Spanish King's Cup winner: 2002 * Spanish League champion: 2002 * ULEB Cup champion: 2003 *

NBA champion The National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals is the championship series for the NBA held at the conclusion of its postseason. All Finals have been played in a best-of-seven format, and are contested between the winners of the Eastern Co ...

Argentina national team

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

* Summer Olympics :

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is hel ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

FIBA World Championship The FIBA Basketball World Cup, also known as the FIBA World Cup of Basketball or simply the FIBA World Cup, between 1950 and 2010 known as the FIBA World Championship, is an international basketball competition contested by the senior men's nat ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

* FIBA Americas Championship :

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

FIBA South American Championship The South American Basketball Championship, or FIBA South American Championship, is the main FIBA tournament for men's national teams from South America's region of FIBA Americas. The tournament was first played in 1930. The tournament often ha ...

: 1997 * FIBA Diamond Ball :

* FIBA Diamond Ball :

Post-playing career

On February 9, 2021, the Austin Spurs of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA D ...

announced that Oberto would be the team's color analyst during the 2020–21 season.

Personal life

Oberto was born in Las Varillas, Argentina. Oberto and his wife have a daughter. He also enjoys playing the guitar and his favorite bands include

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, g ...

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lamp Richard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colomb ...

Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) ...

, U2 and

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

. On June 4, 2009, Oberto underwent a successful ablation procedure to correct the electrical system of the heart that was sending Oberto into atrial fibrillation. The procedure was performed at the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute in Austin.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

, 59 , , 0 , , 8.3 , , .473 , , .000 , , .556 , , 2.1 , , .5 , , .2 , , .2 , , 1.7 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 79 , , 33 , , 17.3 , , .562 , , , , .647 , , 4.7 , , .9 , , .3 , , .3 , , 4.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 64 , , 20.1 , , .608 , , .000 , , .607 , , 5.2 , , 1.2 , , .5 , , .2 , , 4.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 54 , , 11 , , 12.5 , , .587 , , .000 , , .571 , , 2.6 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , .2 , , 2.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, 57 , , 20 , , 11.4 , , .625 , , , , .765 , , 1.8 , , .9 , , .2 , , .2 , , 1.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Portland , 5 , , 0 , , 9.0 , , .600 , , , , .500 , , 1.4 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 1.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 336 , , 128 , , 14.5 , , .576 , , .000 , , .617 , , 3.5 , , .9 , , .3 , , .2 , , 3.2

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;",

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 7 , , 0 , , 4.9 , , .333 , , , , .250 , , .9 , , .1 , , .1 , , .4 , , 1.0 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;",

, style="text-align:left;",

, 20 , , 12 , , 20.8 , , .625 , , .000 , , .571 , , 4.9 , , .7 , , .3 , , .2 , , 5.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:left;",

, 17 , , 9 , , 19.5 , , .609 , , , , .700 , , 4.2 , , 1.2 , , .4 , , .3 , , 3.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 2 , , 0 , , 11.0 , , .667 , , , , 1.000 , , 2.0 , , .0 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , 6.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 46 , , 21 , , 17.4 , , .603 , , .000 , , .615 , , 3.9 , , .8 , , .3 , , .3 , , 4.2

References

External links

EuroLeague profile

Liga ACB profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oberto, Fabricio 1975 births Living people 1998 FIBA World Championship players 2002 FIBA World Championship players 2006 FIBA World Championship players 2010 FIBA World Championship players Argentine expatriate basketball people in Spain Argentine expatriate basketball people in the United States Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Greece Argentine men's basketball players Argentine people of Italian descent Atenas basketball players Basketball players at the 1995 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Centers (basketball) FIBA Hall of Fame inductees Greek Basket League players Italian men's basketball players Liga ACB players Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics National Basketball Association players from Argentina Olympiacos B.C. players Olympic basketball players of Argentina Olympic bronze medalists for Argentina Olympic gold medalists for Argentina Olympic medalists in basketball Pan American Games gold medalists for Argentina Pan American Games medalists in basketball Portland Trail Blazers players Power forwards (basketball) San Antonio Spurs players Saski Baskonia players Sportspeople from Córdoba Province, Argentina Undrafted National Basketball Association players Valencia Basket players Washington Wizards players