Carlos Delfino is a National Basketball Association player who currently plays for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Born in Santa Fe, Argentina on August 29, 1982, he did not begin his professional basketball career in the United States. He plays forward and guard.
Career Beginnings
Delfino’s basketball career began in 1997 when he started playing for the Argentinian Cadets National Team. In 1997 and 1998, he helped the team win the South American Championship. In 2001, he led the Argentinean Junior National Team to the World Junior Championships, helping the team clinch the bronze medal.
Further, he played for Argentina at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece where they won a gold medal.
In 2000, Delfino was discovered by Reggio Calabria, the same team that gave the San Antonio Spurs’ Manu Ginobili his start in professional basketball. During the 2000-01 season, he made at least one three point shot in 19 of the 24 games that he played in. Further, he scored 15 by himself in the first 20 minutes of a game against Cordivari Roseto.
In 2002, he transferred to Skipper Bologna. While on this team, he moved into their starting lineup by the third game of the season.
Entering the NBA
In 2001, Delfino applied for the NBA draft, but ended up withdrawing his name from consideration. However, in 2003, he was drafted by the Detroit Pistons. He was the their first pick, making him the 25th pick overall.
This transaction made him the first Argentine player to be picked in the first round of the draft. Unfortunately, he suffered a knee injury in November of 2004, which put him on the injured list for over three months. In his second season for the Pistons, he was only allowed an average of 10.7 minutes of playing time, making it difficult for him to show what he could do on the court.
In 2007, Delfino was traded by the Pistons to the Toronto Raptors. He was informed of this decision as he got off the plane from his honeymoon. However, in this season he appeared in all 82 games that the team played and averaged 9 points per game.
This marked a significant improvement over past years. He set his own career records for points, three point field goals and assists.
Finally, on August 18, 2009, the Raptors traded Delfino and Roko Ukic to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Sonny Weems and Amir Johnson.