By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
Who can take pride in being the living legend of a European basketball team nowadays? The answer is unclear, but approximately very few people. Andrés Pablo Forray probably didn’t think about becoming just that back in 2003.
Leaving Argentina and Buenos Aires for Italy at not even 18 years of age meant betting on his own talent and ambitions – and ultimately it paid off. From his first arrival in Messina up until 2011, he was shaping the course of his career in the lower divisions of Italian basketball.
Having started out at Messina, he moved up to the Veneto region and ending up playing at Padova and Jesolo. Forli came up next, where he stayed for three years and began to feel at home.
Dolomiti Energia Trento came with an unexpected approach, taking him on a loan deal that later became a regular transfer. What is clear is that 2011 move was a crucial cornerstone in the career of “Toto” – everybody calls him like that – Forray. From that season to today, there’s not a single basketball fan who doesn’t associate Forray with Trento, and vice versa.
“I knew Trento was a club with clear ideas. So when they offered me to come here, I accepted immediately because I didn’t want to stay still too long,” he first opens to Eurohoops’ Cesare Milanti.
“After, I found myself in a team that I already knew because I had played against it, but which had exceeded all my expectations and had a long-term project that we were able to consolidate each and every year, with me as an important part of this project. I never had the idea of leaving.”
Why focus on a soon-to-be 39-year-old who’s only averaging 5.1 points per game in the 2024-25 BKT EuroCup season? Well, because last week Toto Forray wrote history in the competition.
From youngster to veteran, from veteran to legend
Since 2002-03, only five players have surpassed the 140-appearance mark in the EuroCup.
Stefan Markovic finished his career with 142 games played, having gained experience through Hemofarm Vrsac, Treviso, Valencia, Banvit Bandirma, Zenit Saint Petersburg, and Virtus Bologna.
AJ Slaughter is slightly ahead at 143, with appearances for Belfius Mons-Hainaut, Cholet Basket, Elan Chalon sur Saone, Banvit Bandirma, ASVEL Villeurbanne, and ultimately Gran Canaria.
Alen Omic is currently on 143, but he has also gone through a similar multiple-team route: Union Olimpija Ljubljana, Gran Canaria, Unicaja Malaga, Hapoel Jerusalem, Joventut Badalona, JL Bourg-en-Bresse, Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, and now Buducnost VOLI Podgorica.
Only two players have managed to climb up these special ranks by staying with one single team in the EuroCup: Rafa Martinez in Valencia, who stopped at 144. And guess who?
“Feeling that they made me feel like an important part of the project, this relationship grew naturally,” the newest record-holder for most games played in EuroCup history says. Against ratiopharm Ulm, Trento’s leader cemented his legacy as a legend of this competition.
From 2011 to 2025, there’s quite a career to be remembered in black and white. “It has been a path where we have achieved all our goals, in a matter of few years: we made it to Serie A, finishing fourth in the first season, playing in the EuroCup in the second, then playing the LBA Finals,” he adds.
“The club has always grown, the team has always grown, and I have grown with it. We all grew together. Perhaps unconsciously, I became totally attached to the fans and the city.”
Internationally, it all began for him on October 14, 2015, in Ljubljana. “Knowing that coming from below I would play in the second European competition was a very strong motivation for me. Playing the first game in that arena and being in such a context was beautiful,” he recalls.
Ultimately, that first loss became fuel for what was coming up next. “It gave me awareness of what I was doing. Having lost but knowing that you can play, knowing that you can compete at that level there for sure has always been an extra motivation for all these years,” Forray says.
In Trento’s debut EuroCup season, they even managed to reach the semifinals against Strasbourg, winning Game 1 on the road only to surrender with a minor points differential in Game 2. “Having reached the semifinals, that first year there was crazy,” he recalls.
“I’ve always had the feeling of coming to the game with the desire to confront myself with all the players of a higher level. It certainly pushed me to play better for my team, undoubtedly,” Forray says.
One hundred and 45 games are a lot – they feature many emotions, too. “When we played in Belgrade against Partizan for the first time, in [coach Andrea] Trinchieri’s first game, that atmosphere was crazy. Then I remember some games in Montenegro against Buducnost, where the whole arena was overflowing,” he notes.
It all came down to the latest win against the German side, highly anticipated for this special occasion: “I tried to isolate myself a little bit from all the atmosphere flowing around before our last game against Ulm. I lived it, and in the end, I was very calm.”
Fighting until the end among Trento’s talents
Despite always experiencing emotions from his side, whether starting at the beginning of his career or coming off the bench as has happened lately, wins haven’t always been associated with Trento in Europe.
Even though the basketball team close to the Italian Alps has always been an ever-present on this international stage since first appearing in 2015-16, not missing a single EuroCup season, they couldn’t succeed as they did in their very first-ever campaign, missing out on the 2015-16 EuroCup Finals by only a few points.
In the current 2024-25 EuroCup Regular Season, with still three games to be played against Joventut Badalona and Besiktas Fibabanka Istanbul on the road, and hosting Wolves Twinsbet Vilnius at home in Round 17, the challenge is more than difficult.
They are ninth in Group A with a record of 5-10, two victories away from reaching the next phase of the competition. Buducnost VOLI Podgorica is currently in sixth – the final playoff spot – with a 7-8 mark.
“These EuroCup games are helping us a lot to grow. Apart from me (he laughs), we are a young team, and I think we wouldn’t have grown so much without them,” he believes.
“It’s a very high-level competition with good basketball being played, and as soon as you relax for two minutes, the other team makes a break. This has made us improve a lot. Despite leaving some points on the road here and there, we’ve been playing a good EuroCup [campaign].”
Forray’s fighting spirit hasn’t disappeared. “With a little bit more awareness, we would have won a few more games, for sure. But every game, win or lose, has helped us grow. It has been a fair path and now we are playing our last few chances, because nothing is said yet: we want to fight until the end.”
The role hasn’t always been the same for the Argentinian guard within this team. But now he surely has the veteran badge attached to his chest. “I’ve always tried to adapt to help the team. When I was not a veteran, I had another role. Always adapting to seek the best of the team has been part of my characteristics. It is what has allowed – and is allowing me – to play again,” he affirms.
“Now I try to transmit security, energy, and maybe even a little bit of grit to my teammates when I have been playing minutes. Clarifying the ideas, making them feel aware that I’m there to help whenever we have difficulties, and knowing that we need everyone to push forward.”
With young players next to him such as Matteo Spagnolo in the past, and currently Quinn Ellis, Saliou Niang, and Denis Badalau, he leads by example. “Although it has changed and time has passed, my role and my characteristics remain these. I try to pass them on to my teammates as best I can,” he says.
The end of his playing is still unclear, but it’s getting close. So how does Toto Forray want to be remembered? “[I’d like to be remembered] as a player who has transmitted emotions,” he comments.
“[As] someone who made sure basketball could transmit feelings to people: that’s the key of this sport and sports in general. Those who have seen me for many years know that my grit is to show it, and I still can [show it]. I try to do this fairly.
“If they will remember me, I would like to be remembered as a player who has always given everything. This is what I would like most.” One thing is sure: Toto Forray will be remembered – from now on and until someone else reaches him – as the EuroCup all-time leader in games played.
PHOTO CREDIT: Aquila Basket Trento
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