If you're born in Bahía Blanca, playing basketball is practically a prerequisite. And if it's in your DNA, is almost an obligation. Lucas Faggiano, like many others, grew up with an orange ball in the hand and looking up to the hoop. Or staring at the court, where his father, Jorge, was an Argentine National League star. The San Martín de Corrientes Point Guard rewinds his life to talk about his beginnings in the sport, but he can't find a specific moment to reflect on: “I don’t have a clear memory of when I started to play. My dad was a professional athlete and when he practiced, I would be in the court. Little by little I started to participate and since I can remember I was already at Estudiantes de Bahía Blanca. I played in all youth categories of the club until I was invited to play in the professional team. I finished school and wanted to try to be a professional player. That's how I started my career and when I was 16, I was already playing at Estudiantes’ main team.”

That initial step at Liga Nacional was intense but brief. Just like he's used to doing today in the court, he surprisingly shifted gears. “After my first year at la Liga, where I played in the junior category, the opportunity came up to look for a college in the United States. I liked the idea of studying abroad and playing a basketball that has the objective of developing you in four years. I received a scholarship to go to Brooklyn to play with the Long Island Blackbirds in the first division. I left to the United States and the idea was to stay there for the whole four years, but for personal reasons I decided to return. It was a great time while I was there, it was an incredible experience and I trained like I’d never done in my life, and that strengthened me for the future. Lucas couldn't end his studies in Business Management, and he regrets that: “I was doing well in school, which is something essential because they request a certain grade level to let you play. It would've been nice to finish and come back with the title. Besides, I also took classes to improve my English.”

The idea of continuing his studies in Argentina hovered around in his mind, but he hasn't done so: “I tried, I enrolled, but in the end, I didn't do it. I thought it would wouldn't be compatible with professional basketball and now, several years have gone by. If I would've continued, even if it were slowly, I would've been at the middle of my studies and it would've been great.”

The main motive for Lucas Faggiano's return to Argentina was the health of his mother, Silvana. “My mom got sick and I decided to stay in my city, with my family. At the same time, Estudiantes offered me the chance to be a part of their team. The truth is that the decision wasn't based on sports, but once I decided to change plans and not returning to the United States, I accepted the offer at the national league,” says Faggiano. Lucas gets emotional. Relieving the period when his mother was battling cancer get him teary-eyed. But he doesn't break down. He fights through the tears once again: “It wasn't easy. She battled through her illness for years. Basketball was a refuge for me. It cleared my head, and it was also my job and I always took it seriously. It was the place where I could forget about everything and feel at peace. These situations are learning experiences: you usually feel bad after losing a game or because things don't go as planned in the court, but those things have a relative importance. Because then life will show you what is truly important.”

Silvana died on March 3, 2013.

Lucas faced it as he could and shifted gears again after 5 years in Estudiantes: “My mother died, I faced a conflictive situation in Bahía Blanca, and in two or three months I went from being with my family to live in Buenos Aires and play in Boca. It was a period of changes in which I decided to get a tattoo in her honor and I also changed my jersey's number, also for her. Throughout my career I had used the number 12, which was the number my father always used, but I started to use number 3 because that was the day my mother died. I had to figure out how to continue in life.”

And that road continued with two seasons in Boca, after one in San Lorenzo, and from there to Corrientes, where Faggiano took a quality step forward: “It was a complete challenge. I decided to go to San Martín because I would be more on the spotlight. I had been national league champion with San Lorenzo, but with a much more secondary role, coming from the bench. As the years went by in San Martín, my influence and spotlight grew. Already in the last season I had a lot of responsibilities, but in a team that had a greater experience. This year, many experienced players left and my responsibility in the team was much more significant. I'm the captain, which is something very beautiful. The club and I climbed up.”

That climb to the top took the team from Corrientes to play in their first Liga de las Américas, although they couldn't qualify to the Semi-Finals. “It's always very beautiful to play in international tournaments. We never leave happy. We knew it would be a challenging group, but our idea was to go to get better results. But apart from that, it was very motivating to be able to play in that tournament and compete against teams from Brazil and Chile,” said the Argentine point guard.

One of the fans in the seats of the Antonio Azurmendi Coliseum in Valdivia, Chile, during Liga de las Américas’ Group C, was Jorge, his father: “He enjoys watching me in the court. He’s always there in the important events.” Jorge Faggiano was an outstanding player in the first years of the Liga Nacional. He’s an idol in Estudiantes de Bahía Blanca and everyone respects him. Jorge is always the expert opinion to which Lucas turns to: “He’s very important. I was always asked if it was a heavy weight to bear, being ‘his son’, but it was never heavy, quite to the contrary. When someone came and talked about my dad, about all his accomplishments and how he's recognized, I saw it as a source of pride and not as something to feel pressured by. Everyone said nice things about him as a person, aside of what he was as a player, and that was always positive for me. He always understood when to talk to me and when to stay in silence. What to say and what not to say. How to behave in the court. He never shouted. He always waited for me to cool down to talk about the game, nothing while I was still hot. And if he didn't come to me to talk, I would ask him (for his opinion). It was always a very valuable thing to have my father as an inspiration.”

The history of the Argentine team was that there were 6 pairs of fathers and sons that wore the same jersey. Until the Faggiano came along and were the seventh. Jorge played from 1983 to 1988, and on November 29, 2018 came Lucas’ debut in the World Cup Qualifiers to China 2019. “For my old man it's like he was the one playing. Five minutes after I told him he'd already bought the tickets to see the games. That both of us played in the national league was already something very beautiful and being able to have the both of us play in the national team was a dream and a great source of pride for us,” explains Lucas. He then adds: “I’ve always wanted to be in the national team. As the years went by, I became more realistic and understood that because of the quality and number of players in my position, it would be very difficult to be called. However, some events brought me closer and made me hopeful. I was first invited to participate in open practices and that made me work harder to try to be there. My hopes grew and the day that I got the call it was an immense joy. And the day I started to play, you can't even imagine. I was very nervous because it was my debut, and because we were playing as locals in front of a full house and against the United States, and we needed to win to qualify to the World Cup.”

That ideal debut in the national team granted Lucas a moment that will always be present in his mind: “I have a picture of Scola and I doing a pick and roll and that’ll be one of the photos that will mark my career. Some time ago no one would've imagined that I would live that moment. It was a bonus to the situation. It's a true luxury to share a team with him. But when the game time comes, you must leave what you feel about having that type of players on your side, because then it overwhelms you, it exceeds you, and then you can’t play.”

No one will take away Faggiano’s dream of being in the World Cup. But his wisdom allows him to know where he's standing: “I prefer to have my feet on the ground and understand. When they called me, my only thought was going and helping in the minutes I had in each game. That's what I did, and it was my greatest joy. I preferred not to look further than that. I know that the point guard position is very well covered in both quality and number and that for many years to come Argentina won't have any problems there.”

Lucas Faggiano, at 29, has the intelligence and maturity of a veteran of 40, and his emotions flourish as those of a young player that's just beginning. As those of who dribbled a ball for the first time at the home that only had a wall between it and Club Estudiantes Bahía Blanca.

Pablo Cormick
FIBA