Nico Mannion

Niccolo "Nico" Mannion was born March 14, 2001 in Siena, Italy. His father, Pace, is American and played in the NBA for six seasons, before playing hoops professionally in Italy. Nico's mother, Gaia Bianchi, is Italian and played volley ball for the Italian national team. Nico spent his early childhood in Siena before the family moved to Salt Lake City and later settled in Phoenix. He attended Pinnacle High School in Phoenix, where he was highlighted, as a 15-year-old in 2017, by a Sports Illustrated article. As a senior in 2018-19, he averaged 30.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game and led Pinnacle to a second Class 6A state title. After being heavily recruited, Nico chose the University of Arizona for college and was named to the All-Pac-12 Second Team and All-Freshman Team. After his freshman season, he declared his eligibility for the 2020 NBA Draft. Mannion started all 32 games he appeared in during his first and only season at Arizona, serving as the primary point guard for the Wildcats. He did his best work early, averaging 15.9 points through eight November games, including a career-high 24 points Nov. 29 against Penn. His best assist total (11) came in the game before that against Pepperdine, and he matched that again four games later against Omaha. When it was all said and done, Mannion finished second in the Pac-12 with 5.3 assists per contest to go along with a scoring average of 14.0 PPG. That led to a spot on the Pac-12 All-Freshman team, in addition to earning second-team All-Pac-12 honors. Mannion finished the year with seven-straight games in double figures, but he and the Wildcats missed out on postseason play due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He officially declared for the 2020 NBA Draft in early-April.