Pallacanestro Olimpia EA7 – Emporio Armani agreed on terms with the Uruguayan center, Esteban Batista, 2.08, 122 kg of weight, coming from the North Control Bejing chinese basketball team where he just finished the season. Batista will wear number 51. He won’t be eligible to play in Eurocup games.
WHO’S BATISTA – Batista was born in Montevideo, on Septmber 2, 1983. He started his career in his native country by playing for Club Atletico Welcome Montevideo, before moving to Salto Uruguay.In 2003 he signed for Real Madrid and was loaned to Alarcon. He went back to Uruguay, then played for Calpe Aguas (in the Spanish’s LEB)before becoming the first-ever Uruguayan player to appear in an NBA game in 2005. He stayed two years, played 70 games, was signed by Boston as a free-agent but released before appearing in one official game. So he signed for Maccabi Tel Aviv qualifying for the 2008 Euroleague Final Four (10.3 ppg, 6.1 rpg). In January 2009 he moved to Argentina playing for Libertad Sunchales (14.8 ppg, 9.5 rpg). The following summer he was back to Spain to play for Fuenlabrada (where he averaged 14.1 points per game and 8.3 rebounds) and then in Vitoria (8.3 points and 6.4 rebounds in the Euroleague). He then spent two seasons with Anadolu Efes in Turkey, and one more at Pinar Karsiyaka (averaging 17.8 ppg and 8.1 rpg in Eurocup games, while converting 67.3% of his shots). Last season he played for Panathinaikos Athens (averaging 10.2 ppg and 5.5 rpg in Euroleague games and 12.8 points in the Greek League) before moving to China. He closed the season averaging 25.9 points per game and grabbed 12.6 rebounds, he also was 59.8% from the field and 3.0 assists per game.
NOTES – He won the Turkish Cup in 2014 while in Karsiyaka and the Greek Cup in 2015 with Panathinaikos… He was once named played of the week in Euroleague (he then played for Maccabi) and once in the 2014 Eurocup while at Karsiyaka.. With the Nationl team he won the bronze medal at the Panamerican 2007 Games, the silver at the South American championship in 2006 and the bronze in 2010.
