MIAMI (United States) - After playing in North America and Europe, Quincy Miller has found himself in South America, playing for Uruguay's Nacional and participating in the Basketball Champions League Americas for the first time.

Arriving in Uruguay in October, Miller has enjoyed his three months with Nacional, playing against the top teams from across the Americas including Quimsa, and most recently Sao Paulo FC, where Miller contributed 15 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists including shooting 3-of-6 from the 3-point line in a 98-73 loss.

“Here in South America, they are more physical, or just as physical… each style of play is different – the NBA, from Europe, to here, it’s like three different styles of play,” said Miller.

The US born forward was drafted by the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the 2012 NBA Draft, and since has played across the world including in Israel, Serbia, Germany, Taiwan, and most recently Benfica of Portugal before joining Nacional.

Using his experience from the NBA not only in guarding players like Lebron James and Kawhi Leonard on the court but also the experience of organizations off the court has allowed Miller to grow and continue to seek out opportunity to play in some of the best leagues around the world.

“Every team here is a good team or else they wouldn’t be here, so we’re gonna have to compete every night. I’m just excited to play because it’s a FIBA competition and everybody’s gonna be watching,” said Miller.

Nacional qualified for the first time to the third season of BCL Americas as the runners-up in the Liga Uruguaya de Básquetbol during the 2021 season behind Bigua.

Miller signed with Nacional in August of 2021, playing his 10th professional season with the club.

“We’ve got a very good team man, I think sometimes we get distracted at the end of the game but overall, I feel like we’ve got a great team, we’ve got all the pieces we need we just have to put it together,” said Miller.

With his brothers part of the influence to play, Miller started playing basketball on outdoor courts in Chicago before joining an organized team in the eighth grade, which saw him continually grow his game enough to play at schools in North Carolina before attending college at Baylor.

Travelling the world to play basketball, Miller uses his offseason to spend time with family when possible as he has spent most of his career travelling alone to fulfil his dreams that eventually led him to the NBA.

“I’m still finding a way just to be happy and have fun, I have fun in matches, like I just get to be me naturally,” said Miller. “I just like basketball, honestly.”

Nacional will host Quimsa and Sao Paulo FC in the second stage of Season 3 of BCL Americas, taking on Sao Paulo on Jan. 31 and Quimsa on Feb. 1 at Antel Arena in Montevideo, Uruguay looking for their first wins this season on home soil.

FIBA