By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Facu Campazzo’s NBA run wasn’t probably the one that the player had in mind when he signed with the Denver Nuggets in 2020. Nevertheless, the Real Madrid guard is content with how the whole NBA experience helped him improve by being in a situation, unlike the ones he was before in his career.
“I learned a lot [in the NBA],” Campazzo said in an interview with Marca. “I also knew what I was going for, that I wasn’t going to be the primary guard or have the ball in my hand all the time as I had in Europe… I knew my role was going to be different. In that sense, I grew as a player, by analyzing the situation I am in and trying to see the role that I have to play and being the best player in what the coach asks me to do.”
“I knew that it was going to be a super-competitive league and that there are many factors that play a role in gaining a place there and whether you play or not: the luck factor, falling into a team that needs your game,” Campazzo also mentioned on the NBA. “It’s a roller-coaster, you always have to be ready. Knowing that it is a seesaw, I tried to put my energy into things that I could control, like having an impact on the game when it was my turn to play and, if not, being ready when the coach called my name.”
Campazzo, a two-time EuroLeague champion with Real Madrid, spent two years with the Nuggets and then signed with the Dallas Mavericks as a free agent in 2022. His reunion with Madrid teammate Luka Doncic lasted just two months before the Mavs released him.
He ultimately returned to Europe by signing with Serbian powerhouse Crvena Zvezda. After finishign the season in Belgrade he signed a four-year deal to return to Real Madrid.
“I wanted to try another year in the NBA and it happened that they cut me after a month and a half,” Campazzo said. “That’s why my return to Europe after the cut was a bit strange, in the middle of the season, with the teams already assembled, it was difficult… There were offers, but it was complicated. Now, after spending the whole season at Red Star, calmer, it was possible to negotiate a return and happy to be able to return to a place that I feel is my home. I am super motivated and looking forward to everything starting now.”