# Romain Sato

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Romain_Sato
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Romain_Sato.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romain_Sato
> Source revision: 1347830691
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Basketball player

Romain Sato Sato in 2013 Personal information Born (1981-03-02) March 2, 1981 (age 45) Bimbo, Central African Republic Listed height 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Listed weight 220 lb (100 kg) Career information High school Dayton Christian (Dayton, Ohio) College Xavier (2000–2004) NBA draft 2004: 2nd round, 52nd overall pick Drafted by San Antonio Spurs Playing career 2004–2021 Position Shooting guard / small forward Number 10 Career history 2004–2006 Aurora Jesi 2006 Barcelona 2006–2010 Mens Sana Siena 2010–2012 Panathinaikos 2012–2013 Fenerbahçe 2013–2017 Valencia Career highlights EuroLeague champion (2011) EuroCup champion (2014) Liga ACB champion (2017) All-Liga ACB First Team (2014) Spanish Supercup winner (2017) 4× LBA champion (2007–2010) 2× Italian Cup winner (2009, 2010) 3× Italian Supercup winner (2007–2009) LBA MVP (2010) Italian SuperCup MVP (2009) Greek League champion (2011) Greek Cup winner (2012) Turkish Cup winner (2013) 2× First-team All-Atlantic 10 (2003, 2004) Stats at Basketball Reference FIBA Hall of Fame

**Romain Guessagba-Sato-Lebel** (French pronunciation: [\[ʁɔmɛ̃ ɡesaɡba sato ləbɛl\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/French); born March 2, 1981), generally known as **Romain Sato**, is a former Central African professional [basketball](/source/Basketball) player. Standing at a height of 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in), he played as a [swingman](/source/Swingman).

Sato won four [LBA](/source/Lega_Basket_Serie_A) championships with [Mens Sana Siena](/source/Mens_Sana_Basketball_Siena) in Italy, and was named the [league's MVP](/source/LBA_Most_Valuable_Player) in 2010. Sato won the [EuroLeague](/source/EuroLeague) title with [Panathinaikos](/source/Panathinaikos_B.C.) in 2011. In his four years with [Valencia](/source/Valencia_Basket) of the [Liga ACB](/source/Liga_ACB), he was named to the All-ACB First Team in 2014. Sato was enshrined in the [FIBA Hall of Fame](/source/FIBA_Hall_of_Fame) in 2024.[1]

He represented the [Central African Republic national team](/source/Central_African_Republic_men's_national_basketball_team) in international play, leading them at [AfroBasket 2009](/source/AfroBasket_2009).

## High school

Sato attended [Dayton Christian High School](/source/Dayton_Christian_High_School), while living in [Moraine, Ohio](/source/Moraine%2C_Ohio), in the [United States](/source/United_States). While there, he played basketball, and in 2000 Sato was selected as Mr. Basketball for the state of Ohio. In 2019 he was elected to the Dayton Christian High School Athletic Hall of Fame, and in 2021 the school retired his #23 jersey.

## College career

Sato graduated from [Xavier University](/source/Xavier_University_(Cincinnati)) in 2004, having majored in [French](/source/French_language), after playing [college basketball](/source/College_basketball) with the [Xavier Musketeers](/source/Xavier_Musketeers_men's_basketball). During his time at Xavier, he helped lead the Musketeers to 4 consecutive NCAA tournaments from 2000 to 2004, including Xavier's first Elite Eight appearance in March 2004 (where they lost to Duke), and two Round of 32 appearances.

## Professional career

Sato was selected by the [San Antonio Spurs](/source/San_Antonio_Spurs) in the [2004 NBA draft](/source/2004_NBA_draft), and was subsequently waived on February 24, 2005. After being drafted by the Spurs, Sato played in the [Italian Second Division](/source/LegADue)[2] with [Sicc Cucine Jesi](/source/Aurora_Basket_Jesi). He was the league's second-leading scorer in the 2005–06 season, averaging 25.5 points per game, and also adding 7.5 rebounds per game.

In Romain's three playoff games that season, he averaged 35 points and 14.6 rebounds. From there, he went to [FC Barcelona](/source/FC_Barcelona_B%C3%A0squet) to play in the 2006 [Spanish ACB League](/source/Liga_ACB) playoffs.[3] Sato then returned to Italy to play in the top [Italian League](/source/Lega_Basket_Serie_A) with [Montepaschi Siena](/source/Montepaschi_Siena) for the 2006–07 season. In his first season with Siena, he helped Montepaschi to win the *Scudetto* (Italian Championship),[4] and he then went on to win three more *Scudetti* with Siena. He was named the [Italian League MVP](/source/Lega_Basket_Serie_A_MVP) in 2010.[5]

In July 2010, he signed a three-year contract with [Panathinaikos](/source/Panathinaikos_B.C.). In the summer of 2012, he signed a two-year contract with [Fenerbahçe Ülker](/source/Fenerbah%C3%A7e_Men's_Basketball).[6] He left them after one season. In August 2012, he signed a one-year deal with the Spanish team [Valencia Basket](/source/Valencia_Basket).[7] On July 1, 2014, he re-signed with Valencia Basket for two more years.[8]

## National team career

Sato played with the senior men's [Central African Republic national basketball team](/source/Central_African_Republic_national_basketball_team) at the [2009 FIBA Africa Championship](/source/AfroBasket_2009). He averaged 21.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game at the tournament, and was named to [the All-Tournament First Team](/source/FIBA_AfroBasket_All-Tournament_Team).

## Career statistics

Legend GP Games played GS Games started MPG Minutes per game FG% Field-goal percentage 3P% 3-point field-goal percentage FT% Free-throw percentage RPG Rebounds per game APG Assists per game SPG Steals per game BPG Blocks per game PPG Points per game PIR Performance index rating Bold Career high

### EuroLeague

† Denotes season in which Sato won the EuroLeague * Led the league

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR 2007–08 Mens Sana 23 22 28.0 .442 .347 .731 4.9 1.0 1.8 .1 11.6 12.7 2008–09 20 19 25.8 .462 .400 .814 3.9 .7 1.8 .1 10.1 10.8 2009–10 16 16 28.0 .490 .396 .855 5.3 1.3 1.5 — 13.6 16.3 2010–11† Panathinaikos 21 16 26.2 .413 .388 .813 3.9 1.1 .7 .1 9.0 10.1 2011–12 23* 20 26.0 .410 .347 .712 4.7 1.0 .7 .4 7.1 8.6 2012–13 Fenerbahçe 23 23 27.0 .408 .341 .810 4.2 1.3 .7 .1 7.3 8.2 2014–15 Valencia 9 6 27.2 .362 .292 .800 4.8 1.1 .9 .6 6.3 6.7 Career 135 122 26.8 .433 .363 .789 4.5 1.1 1.1 .2 9.4 10.6

## Gallery

		- Romain Sato's words in his presentation as a [Valencia Basket](/source/Valencia_Basket) player, in 2013.

		- Sato answers the questions of the Press in the very same act.

		- Hommage in Valencia's court after his first season in the club, when he was chosen as best SF in the league, and awarded by local fans as the team's player who showed more effort.

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["2024 Hall of Fame Class: Romain Sato"](https://www.fiba.basketball/news/2024-hall-of-fame-class-romain-sato). *FIBA.basketball*. Retrieved 2024-09-07.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Coro, Paul (July 5, 2006). ["Sato may fill Suns' need"](http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/0705suns07050.html). *[The Arizona Republic](/source/The_Arizona_Republic)*. Retrieved 2007-06-28.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Mens_Sana_bio_3-0)** ["First Team Roster: Romain Sato"](https://web.archive.org/web/20071205134309/http://www.menssanabasket.it/en/squadra/sato.html). Mens Sana Basket. Archived from [the original](http://menssanabasket.it/en/squadra/sato.html) on 2007-12-05. Retrieved 2008-02-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Xavier University Graduate Romain Sato Wins Italian Title"](https://web.archive.org/web/20080322040146/http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/stories/061907aab.html). *[CSTV](/source/CSTV)*. June 19, 2007. Archived from [the original](http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/stories/061907aab.html) on March 22, 2008. Retrieved 2007-06-28.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [Legabasket.it – Gli MVP di Lega: Romain Sato è il miglior giocatore della stagione regolare (in Italian).](http://web.legabasket.it/news/?id=107011)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Fenerbahce signs Romain Sato"](http://www.sportando.net/eng/europe/turkey/40931/fenerbahce-signs-romain-sato.html). *Sportando.net*. 12 July 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["VALENCIA BASKET announces power Romain Sato"](https://web.archive.org/web/20131111025403/http://www.eurocupbasketball.com/eurocup/home/transactions/eurocup-2013-14/i/115222/8174/valencia-basket-announces-power-romain-sato). *Eurocupbasketball.com*. 2 August 2013. Archived from [the original](http://www.eurocupbasketball.com/eurocup/home/transactions/eurocup-2013-14/i/115222/8174/valencia-basket-announces-power-romain-sato) on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Romain Sato will stay in Valencia two more years"](http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/138321). *Euroleague.net*. July 1, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Romain Sato](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Romain_Sato).

- [Romain Sato](http://www.acb.com/jugador.php?id=BBG) at acb.com (in Spanish)

- [Romain Sato](http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Romain-Sato-5195/) at draftexpress.com

- [Romain Sato](http://esake.gr/el/action/EsakeplayerView?idteam=00000001&idchampionship=00000002&idplayer=00000526&mode=1) at esake.gr (in Greek)

- [Romain Sato](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/2443/romain-sato) at espn.com

- [Romain Sato](http://www.euroleague.net/competition/players/showplayer?pcode=LMO#!careerstats) at euroleague.net

- [Romain Sato](https://web.archive.org/web/20121009155511/http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/37362/arti.html) at fiba.com

- [Romain Sato](http://web.legabasket.it/player/?id=SAT-ROM-81&year=2009&team=1173) at legabasket.it (in Italian)

- [Romain Sato](http://www.mistilynn.com/spurs/sato.htm) at mistilynn.com

- [Romain Sato](https://www.tblstat.net/player/2341) at tblstat.net

Links to related articles v t e 2004 NBA draft First round Dwight Howard Emeka Okafor Ben Gordon Shaun Livingston Devin Harris Josh Childress Luol Deng Rafael Araújo Andre Iguodala Luke Jackson Andris Biedriņš Robert Swift Sebastian Telfair Kris Humphries Al Jefferson Kirk Snyder Josh Smith J. R. Smith Dorell Wright Jameer Nelson Pavel Podkolzin Victor Khryapa Sergei Monia Delonte West Tony Allen Kevin Martin Sasha Vujačić Beno Udrih David Harrison Second round Anderson Varejão Jackson Vroman Peter John Ramos Lionel Chalmers Donta Smith Andre Emmett Antonio Burks Royal Ivey Chris Duhon Albert Miralles Justin Reed David Young Viktor Sanikidze Trevor Ariza Tim Pickett Bernard Robinson Ha Seung-jin Pape Sow Ricky Minard Serhiy Lishchuk Vassilis Spanoulis Christian Drejer Romain Sato Matt Freije Rickey Paulding Luis Flores Marcus Douthit Sergei Karaulov Blake Stepp Rashad Wright v t e Italian Supercup MVP 1995: Woolridge 1996: Galanda 1997: Marconato 1998: Abbio 1999: Meneghin 2000: Allen 2001: Edney 2002: Edney 2003: Johnson 2004: Vanterpool 2005: Belinelli 2006: Goree 2007: Stonerook 2008: McIntyre 2009: Sato 2010: McCalebb 2011: Lavrinovič 2012: Markoishvili 2013: Hackett 2014: Dyson 2015: Della Valle 2016: Simon 2017: Theodore 2018: Micov 2019: Jerrells 2020: Delaney 2021: Pajola 2022: Ojeleye 2023: Shengelia 2024: Dimitrijević 2025: Ellis v t e LBA Most Valuable Player 1994: Myers 1995: Rusconi 1996: Williams 1997: Myers 1998: Danilović 1999: Esposito 2000: Esposito 2001: Ginóbili 2002: Ginóbili 2003: Bulleri 2004: Basile 2005: Bulleri 2006: Greer 2007: McIntyre 2008: Gallinari 2009: McIntyre 2010: Sato 2011: Thomas 2012: McCalebb 2013: Datome 2014: Diener 2015: Mitchell 2016: Nunnally 2017: Landry 2018: Rich 2019: Crawford 2020: N/A 2021: Tonut 2022: Della Valle 2023: Ross 2024: Belinelli 2025: Bilan 2026: Brooks v t e Panathinaikos 2010–11 Euroleague champions 5 Tepić 6 Marić 7 Perperoglou 8 Batiste 9 Fotsis 10 Sato 11 Nicholas 12 Tsartsaris 13 Diamantidis (MVP and Final Four MVP) 14 Vougioukas 15 Calathes 16 Karamalegkos 17 Bogris 18 Kaimakoglou 19 Zoumpos Head coach: Obradović Assistant coaches: Itoudis Pistiolis Keramidas Aronis v t e Valencia Basket 2013–14 Eurocup champions 4 Triguero 5 Ribas 7 Doellman 9 Van Rossom 10 Sato 12 Lishchuk 13 Lučić 14 Dubljević 17 Martínez 20 Lafayette 24 Abia 34 Aguilar Head coach: Perasović v t e FIBA Hall of Fame inductees FIBA Members Players Amaury Arcain A. Belov S. Belov Berkovich Bilé Bilić Bira Bird Bogut Borrell Cameron Chazalon Ćosić Cruz Dalipagić Daneu Delibašić Divac Donovan Dumerc Dydek Edwards Epi Fasoulas Faye Fijalkowski Furlong Galis Gasol A. Gaze Giannakis Golomeev González Haixia Hendrawan Herrera Horáková Jean-Jacques Jordan Łopatka Kićanović Korać Kropilák Kukoč Leslie Lijie Loyzaga Machanguana R. Maher Marcari Marčiulionis Marques Martín Marzorati Mbengue Meneghin Meyers Miao C. Miller R. Miller Moglia Mourning Mujanović Nash Németh O'Neal Nowitzki Oberto Oga Olajuwon Ortiz Park Pauchard Paulauskas Penicheiro Penney Petrović Pollini Radovanović Raga Rigaudeau Robertson Robinson Rodríguez Ronchetti Russell Sabonis Sakandelidze Sako Sato Schmidt Schrempf Semjonova Silva Slavnić Smildziņa-Budovska Staley Stojaković Stoyanova Štreimikytė Tarakanov Taylor Timms Tkachenko Türkoğlu Valdemoro Valters Volkov Voynova Wang Warda Yao Zassoulskaya Zdovc Zheng Zídek Coaches Alekseyeva Auriemma Barbosa Canavesi Daly Díaz-Miguel Donohue Ferrándiz Gamba Garnier L. Gaze A. Gomelsky E. Gomelsky Hejková Iba Ivković Kanela Kondrashin Krzyzewski Magnano T. Maher Messina Ludwik Miętta Newell Nikolić Novosel Pešić Peterson Planas Primo Rubini Smith Stirling Summitt Tanjević VanDerveer Vasojević Yow Žeravica Zuoyun Contributors Founding Federations: Argentine Czechoslovak Greek Italian Latvian Portuguese Romanian Swiss Airaldi Rivarola Ashry Atakol Bouffard Busnel Calvo Carneiro Dos Reis Greim Hepp Jones Killian Klieger Kozłowski López Martín Naismith Otto Pitzl Popović Ramsay Samaranch Saporta Scuri Seguro de Luna Semashko Sèye Moreau Stanković Steitz Stern Šaper Ueda Vitale Wahby Yoon Technical officials Arabadjian Bain Belošević Blanchard Dimou Hopenhaym Kassai Kostin Lazarov Pfeuti Rae Reverberi Rigas Righetto Teams 1992 USA Men's "Dream Team"

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Romain Sato](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romain_Sato) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romain_Sato?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.