ITA - Raptors sign number one pick Bargnani

TORONTO (NBA) - The Toronto Raptors have wasted little time getting Andrea Bargnani under contract.

Three days after becoming the first European player selected with the top overall pick in the NBA draft, Bargnani put pen to paper on a deal worth $7.78 million in for the first two years.

The contract runs until the end of the 2007-08 season, and the Raptors hold club options for the next two years of the contract.

Getting Bargnani under contract quickly was a priority for the Raptors as he will be a member of the club's summer team in Las Vegas. That league begins on Thursday and runs until July 14.

The signing of Bargnani continued the busy off-season for the rebuilding Raptors under first-year general manager Bryan Colangelo.

Colangelo made another move to reshape the club's roster on Friday night when he traded Charlie Villanueva - the seventh overall pick in 2005 - to the Milwaukee Bucks for speedy point guard TJ Ford.

That move was designed to create room for the forward Bargnani.

Earlier this off-season, Colangelo traded for Slovenian center Rasho Nesterovic, hired Italian Maurizio Gherardini as his assistant and received assurances from Spanish forward Jorge Garbajosa that he would join the team.

Colangelo also dealt Rafael Araujo - the eighth overall pick in 2004 - to the Utah Jazz.

On Wednesday, the 6ft 10in Bargnani joined Yao Ming (2002) as the only pure international players to be taken with the top pick. He is 20 years old but already has three years with Benetton Treviso of the Italian League under his belt.

Bargnani averaged 11.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 21.7 minutes per game in his third season with Benetton. He shot 57.8% from the field, including 36.9 percent on three-pointers.

Italy are hoping Bargnani will be with them at the FIBA World Championship later this summer.

PA Sport