By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
One of the top Italian players of his generation, Stefano Tonut, joined champions Milan for the next two seasons.
Per the press release: Olimpia Milano agreed on a two-year contract with Stefano Tonut, born in Cantù, on November 7, 1993, 1.94 mt tall, coming from Reyer Venezia where he spent the last seven seasons. “Stefano has been one of the best and most consistent Italian players over the last few seasons, he is a winner, has great skills and is coming to Milano right when he is about to enter his prime and the total awareness of his potential,” Olimpia’s general manager Christos Stavropoulos said. “I’m so happy and excited to make a dream of mine come true and paly for a top-level team, both in Italy and Europe, like Olimpia. In Milano, I’ll join a group of people, coaches and players, that I’m familiar with, and many more that I can’t wait to meet and work along. Finally, I wish to thank Olimpia Milano’s ownershiip, Coach Messina and Christos Stavropoulos for the great opportunity they are giving to me,” Stefano Tonut said.
WHO’S TONUT – Stefano Tonut is born in Cantù, but he was raised in Trieste and started his basketball journey by playing for the Azzurra local team. Eventually, he spent one year in Monfalcone and then moved to Pallacanestro Trieste where he remained until 2015 (he averaged 19.2 points per game in his last second division season) when he was signed by Venezia. He stayed there for the following seven season, helping his team win two Italian league championships, in 2017 and 2019, the 2020 Italian Cup, the 2017 Fiba Europe Cup. In 2021 he was named Italian league MVP (he averaged 16.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game, shooting 39.8 percent from three-point range). During his last season in Venezia, he averaged 14.0 points per game on top of 3.1 rebounds. He had a 51-game experience in the Eurocup with career averages of 7.9 points per game. Over the last season, he has scored 169 points, 10.1 per game.
NOTES – His father Alberto Tonut won the European championship in 1983 with the Italian National team and played several seasons in the Italian league, with Trieste, Livorno and Cantù. In 2013, Stefano was a member of the Italian gold medal Under 20 winning team at the European championship, in Estonia. He scored 10 points in the championship game. In 2021, he has played in the Tokyo Olympics with the Italian National Team. Overall, he has played 29 games with the National team with 190 points scored, including the 15 that he had in the Preolympic Tournament final in Belgrade, against Serbia. He also scored 18 points over Germany at the Olympics.