Esteban Batista

Position	Center
Height	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Weight	270 lb (122 kg)
League	Liga ACB
Team	Baloncesto Fuenlabrada
Born	September 2, 1983 (1983-09-02) (age 26) Montevideo, Uruguay
Nationality	Uruguayan
Draft	Undrafted, 2005
Pro career	2001–present
Former teams	C.A. Welcome (Uruguayan league) (2001–03) Salto (Uruguayan league) (2003) Pozuelo (Spanish LEB) (2003) Nacional (Uruguayan league) (2004) Trouville (Uruguayan league) (2004) Aguas de Calpe (Spanish LEB) (2005) Atlanta Hawks (U.S.) (2005–07) Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) (2008) Triumph Lyubertsy (2008) Libertad de Sunchales (2009)

Esteban Damián Batista Hernández (born September 2, 1983, in Montevideo) is a Uruguayan professional basketball player who is currently playing for Baloncesto Fuenlabrada from the Spanish Liga ACB. He is the first ever Uruguayan NBA player.

[edit] Pro career

Batista began his pro career in the Uruguayan League in 2001. He then moved to the second division of Spain, the Spanish LEB League in 2003.

[edit] NBA

Batista was signed as a free agent by the Atlanta Hawks on September 12, 2005. He made his NBA debut on November 2 of that year, going scoreless in 6 minutes of play time against the Golden State Warriors. In his first NBA season, Batista averaged 1.8 points per game and 2.5 rebounds per game in 8.7 minutes per game, in 57 games played.

On September 26, 2007, Batista signed a non-guaranteed contract with the Boston Celtics. ^[1] On October 16, 2007, however, Batista was waived by the team. ^[2]

[edit] Israel

On the same day that he was released by the Celtics, he signed with the Euroleague club Maccabi Tel Aviv. ^[3][4][5]

[edit] Russia

Batista joined the Russian Super League club Triumph Lyubertsy in December 2008, but left the club shortly thereafter for personal reasons.

[edit] Spain

Batista signed a three year contract with Alta Gestión Fuenlabrada at the summer of 2009.^[6]

[edit] Uruguayan national team

Batista is a member of the Uruguayan national basketball team. During the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship, which was held from August 22 through September 2, in Las Vegas, Batista averaged 20.8 points per game and 12.4 rebounds per game.

[edit] References

1. ^ Peter May, Camp Roster Set, The Boston Globe.
2. ^ Marc Spears, Batista Waived, The Boston Globe.
3. ^ Maccabi signs center Esteban Batista October 22, 2007.
4. ^ http://www.sport5.co.il/Articles/Article.274.26664.html (Hebrew)
5. ^ http://www.solobasket.com/contenido.php?id=16136 (Spanish)
6. ^ Conoce a Esteban Batista

[edit] External links

• NBA.com Profile - Esteban Batista
• Esteban Batista Statistics at Basketball-Reference.com
• Euroleague.net Player Profile