Franco Nicolás Balbi (born August 21, 1989), is an Argentine professional basketball player who currently plays for Flamengo of Novo Basquete Brasil. At a height of tall, he plays at the point guard position.
Balbi started playing youth club basketball with Club Villa Belgrano, in the city of JunÃÂn, when he was 5. He also played with Los Indios de JunÃÂn at the youth level, before arriving at Ciclista Juninense, where he made his debut in Argentina's top-level league, the Liga Nacional de Básquet (LNB), on January 14, 2007, against Regatas Corrientes. The following season, Ciclista Juninense got relegated, and had to play in Argentina's second division, the Torneo Nacional de Ascenso (TNA). Balbi turned into a key player on the team, including playing more minutes and having good games, which made Quimsa from Santiago del Estero, sign him up for the 2009âÂÂ10 LNB season, marking his return to the Argentine first division. That same season, he suffered a severe injury that made him lose minutes the following season, and that ultimately led Quimsa to terminate his contract. He quickly managed to find a new club, San MartÃÂn de Corrientes, which he helped achieve a league promotion to the Argentine first division, by finishing as runner-ups in the Torneo Nacional de Ascenso (TNA).
In the following season, he returned to Ciclista Juninense, to play in the second division. After two good seasons, he signed with the club's local rivals, Argentino de JunÃÂn, for the 2013âÂÂ14 LNB season, where he would return to play under his first professional head coach, Adrián Capelli.
With Argentino de JunÃÂn, he played in both the 2013âÂÂ14 season of the Liga Nacional de Básquet, and the Liga Sudamericana de Básquetbol (FIBA South American League). It was a great season, for both him and the club, with the team making the semifinals of both tournaments. In the 2014âÂÂ15 LNB season, he became a regular starter for Argentino de JunÃÂn, and once again played in the Liga Nacional de Básquet and the Liga Sudamericana de Básquetbol. He became an established player in the top level Argentine league, and received noticeable coverage from the local press.
On May 23, 2016, Balbi signed with Ferro, for the Argentine 2016âÂÂ17 Liga Nacional de Básquet season.
On June 21, 2018, Balbi signed with the Brazilian NBB club Flamengo, for the 2018âÂÂ19 NBB season, which marked his first club playing experience outside of Argentina.
In his first year with Flamengo Balbi had a successful season winning the Rio de Janeiro State Championship, Brazilian Super 8 Cup and the NBB league. Besides that he was elected the league's Best Foreign Player and selected to the All-NBB Team, averaging 10.8 ppg and 5.7 apg in 26 regular season games.
On June 19, 2019, Balbi re-signed with Flamengo for one more year.
After a good 2014âÂÂ15 LNB season with Argentino de JunÃÂn, he was selected to the senior Argentine national basketball team for the first time. He made his debut against Uruguay, in OlavarrÃÂa.