TORONTO - The Toronto Raptors have locked up Italian forward Andrea Bargnani to a five-year contract extension.
The deal is reported to be worth an estimated US$50 million over five seasons starting in 2010-11.
"Andrea has worked very hard to establish himself as a top-flight, multi-dimensional big man in the NBA," said Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo in a statement.
"He overcame a rough start last season to emerge as a primary scorer for us, and we anticipate quite a bit more from him in the future."
Bargnani averaged career-highs of 15.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.24 blocked shots and 31.4 minutes in 78 games last season. He topped 20 or more points a career-best 23 times and set an NBA record for the longest streak of consecutive games with two or more three-pointers by a starting centre with 10 consecutive games.
The seven-foot Rome native became the first European-born player selected with the first overall pick in the NBA Draft when he was taken by the Raptors in 2006.
