2016–2019: Beginnings
In August 2016, after a corporate failure of S.S. Basket Napoli, Ciro Ruggiero founded a new team, known as Cuore Napoli Basket. The transfer of the sporting title from Cilento Basket Agropoli allowed the newborn Neapolitan team to play in the 2016–17 Serie B. In the same season, Cuore Napoli Basket managed to win promotion to Serie A2, after having arrived first in Group C of the regular season and beat Bergamo Basket in the playoff's final. During the same season Napoli also won his first Italian Cup in the National Basketball League.
At the end of the 2017–18 season, Cuore Napoli Basket relegated to Serie B, after losing in the playouts against Roseto Sharks. At the end of the season, the management passed to the Neapolitan entrepreneurs Federico Grassi and Francesco Tavassi and the club changed its name to Napoli Basket. [1] Gianluca Lulli was signed as new head coach. In 2018–19 Serie B, Napoli Basket closed the regular season at the 6th place in group D with 36 points, but it lost in the semifinals against Pallacanestro Palestrina.
In June 2019, the club announced that it had purchased the sports title from Legnano Basket Knights, obtaining the right to participate in the 2019–20 Serie A2 season. However, the season began with three consecutive defeats against NPC Rieti, Basket Latina and Junior Casale. Gianluca Lulli was sacked and the expert coach Stefano Sacripanti was signed. [2] Napoli ended the regular season at the 8th place, achieving the second phase, which however was never played due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the next summer, important players like Josh Mayo and Jordan Parks were signed. In the 2020–21 season, the team won its second Italian LNP Cup (the first in Serie A2), beating APU Udine for 80–69 in the final. [3] On 27 June 2021, following the victory in the playoff's finals against Udine, Napoli was promoted to Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). [4]
Despite a good start of the season, on 15 March 2022, coach Sacripanti was sacked following several defeats and the club hired Maurizio Buscaglia as new head coach. [5] Moreover, on 29 March, Napoli signed the Lithuanian center Artūras Gudaitis, who had left Zenit Saint Petersburg following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [6] On May 1, Napoli defeated Fortitudo Bologna at PalaDozza, achieving the salvation from relegation.
After not making the playoffs in the 2021-22 season, the club decided to take new players during the offseason. These include Jordan Howard, [7] Robert Johnson, [8] David Michineau, [9] Elijah Stewart [10] and JaCorey Williams. [11] On January 3, 2023, Buscaglia was esonerated and Cesare Pancotto ended up becoming the head coach after being an assistant coach for the team. [12] [13] During the season, they engaged Devin Davis, [14] Joe Young [15] and Thomas Wimbush. [16] Though Johnson, Davis, Williams, Agravanis and Zanotti would all leave the club before the end of the season. [17]
In 2023, Alessandro Dalla Salda became the new CEO and hired the Croatian Igor Miličić as new head coach. Moreover, the club signed important players like Jacob Pullen, Tyler Ennis, Michał Sokołowski, Tariq Owens and Markel Brown. On 18 February 2024, after having ousted Pallacanestro Brescia and Reggiana in the first two rounds, Napoli defeated Olimpia Milano in the final, winning the first Italian Cup of its history.
The 2024–25 season began with Igor Miličić confirmed as head coach, but with a complete overhaul of the roster, as all the key players from the previous season left Naples. Over the summer, nine new players joined the team, including point guard Kevin Pangos, shooting guards Zach Copeland and Charles Manning, small forward Jordan Hall, and power forward Deane Williams. To strengthen the Italian contingent, Napoli signed Leonardo Totè and Tomas Woldetensae, along with Estonian forward Kaspar Treier, who was developed in the Italian system.
In the first eleven rounds of the 2024–25 Serie A season, the team suffered eleven straight losses, showing serious weaknesses on both offense and defense. After the eighth game, the club’s management decided to part ways with head coach Igor Miličić, appointing Giorgio Valli to lead the team for the remainder of the season. This rough start left Napoli in a critical position in the standings, sitting in last place with a 3–13 record at the halfway mark. The only wins came against Scafati Basket (96–94 after overtime), Derthona (92–83), and Sassari (87–70).
The "American Era" (2025–)
At the end of the 2024–25 season, American entrepreneur Matt Rizzetta became the club’s principal owner along with US-based business executives and investors Daniel Doyle, Bob Wood and Vincent T Beni. New York University professor and sports business expert Gina Antoniello joined as advisor and Nicola Cirrincione joined as US market representative.
With the arrival of the new ownership, the team’s name was changed to “Napoli Basketball,” and both organizational and technical restructurings were set in motion in preparation for the coming seasons.
NBA executive and New Orleans Pelicans Chief of Staff James Laughlin was hired as the General Manager and John Staudt was hired as Head of Scouting.
The era of new ownership was introduced in world-class fashion on a MSC cruise ship in Naples in front of more than 200 people. During the presentation, rumors swirled around the entrance of Shaquille O’Neal as a prospective addition to the ownership group, however no official statement or confirmation was made.
