Birthplace: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Height: 6'3"
NBA Seasons: 13
Leandro Barbosa, the Brazilian shooting guard known as “The Blur,” joined the BIG3 with the Ball Hogs in 2021. To say he made an instant impact would be an understatement. He was second in the league in scoring to Joe Johnson, led the league in assists, and finished second in assist to turnover ratio. Coming off a season like that, it should be no surprise that Barbosa will be the new Captain of the Ball Hogs for the 2022 season.
Barbosa has had a long and decorated career playing professional basketball, which has included competition in Brazilian leagues, international tournaments, and a 14-year run in the NBA.
Barbosa was a longtime member of the Brazilian national team, playing in the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. In the NBA, he posted a career scoring average of 10.6 points per game, with a three-point percentage of .387 and a free-throw percentage of .821. Perhaps his most impressive accomplishment came in 2006-07, when won the Sixth Man of the Year Award while playing with the Phoenix Suns and averaging a career best 18.1 points per game.
Barbosa was selected by the Spurs in the 2003 NBA Draft. He was immediately acquired by Phoenix in a draft-day trade. In addition to the Suns (where he had three stints throughout his career), Barbosa played for the Toronto Raptors, Indiana Pacers, Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors.
Barbosa made a special impact with Golden State. He was a key player off the bench for the 2014-15 NBA champion Warriors and helped them to an NBA-record 73-9 regular season in 2015-16. He has since returned to work with the team as their Player Mentor Coach in 2020, which came after two seasons playing professionally in Brazil.
