Richard Marciano Hickman, Jr. (born September 1, 1985) is an American-born naturalized Georgian former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He represented the Georgian national basketball team in international competitions. Standing at , he played at the

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

and

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

positions. Hickman helped lead

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

to a EuroLeague title in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, earning an

All-EuroLeague Second Team The All-EuroLeague Team is an award for Europe's premier level league, the EuroLeague, that is given to the league's top ten basketball players for each season, since the 2000–01 season. During the FIBA era of the EuroLeague, players were honor ...

selection in the process.

High school

Hickman attended East Forsyth High School, where he played high school basketball, from 1999 to 2003.

College career

After high school, Hickman attended

UNC-Greensboro The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG or UNC Greensboro) is a public research university in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. It is accredited by the Southern Association of College ...

, where he played varsity school

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for four years. He played with the school's

UNC Greensboro Spartans The UNC Greensboro (UNCG) Spartans are the athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Greensboro, North Carolina. All 17 UNCG sports compete in the Southern Conference (SoCon). History The intercollegiate ath ...

, from 2003 to 2007.

Professional career

Hickman played with the professional basketball teams

Otopeni Otopeni () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, neighbouring the north of Bucharest along the DN1 road to Ploiești. It has 21,750 inhabitants, of which 99.0% are ethnic Romanians. One village, Odăile, is administered by the city. H ...

in Romania,

Gießen 46ers The GIESSEN 46ers (formerly GIESSEN 46ers) is a professional basketball club based in Gießen, Germany, that plays in the ProA. Their home arena is Sporthalle Gießen-Ost, with a capacity of 4,003 people. History The biggest achievements in clu ...

in Germany, and

Namika Lahti Namika Lahti was a basketball club based in Lahti, Finland. The club played in the Korisliiga, the top Finnish championship league. The club was established in 1898 in Vyborg and moved to Lahti in 1947. In 2015, the club was dissolved, after econom ...

in Finland, before joining the Italian 2nd Division team

Junior Casale Associazione Sportiva Junior Libertas Pallacanestro Casale Monferrato, commonly known as Junior Casale is an Italian professional basketball team based in Casale Monferrato, Piedmont. It plays in the Italian fourth division Serie B Interregionale ...

in 2010. In July 2011, he signed with

Scavolini Pesaro Victoria Libertas (also known as "VL" or in Italian ''Vuelle''), full name Unione Sportiva Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro, is a professional basketball team that is based in Pesaro, Italy. The club competes in the top level Italian professiona ...

for the 2011–12 season. Hickman signed a two-year contract with the Israeli Super League team

in 2012. In May 2014, he was named to the

. Hickman helped Maccabi to win the

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

title that season, along with teammates

Tyrese Rice Tyrese Jammal Rice (born May 15, 1987) is an American-born naturalized Montenegrin former professional basketball player. He represented the senior men's national team of Montenegro. Rice played college basketball with the Boston College Eagles. ...

Sofoklis Schortsanitis Sofoklis Schortsanitis ( Greek: Σοφοκλής Σχορτσανίτης; born 22 June 1985) is a Cameroonian-Greek former professional basketball player and Olympian. An All-EuroLeague First Team selection in 2011, Schortsanitis won the Eu ...

, and

David Blu David Blu (; born David Bluthenthal; July 18, 1980) is an American–Israeli former professional basketball player, who spent 10 seasons playing in the EuroLeague. Standing at , he played at the small forward and power forward positions. He is c ...

. On July 1, 2014, he signed a two-year contract with the

Turkish Super League Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The ...

club Fenerbahçe. On March 26, 2015, he suffered the

Achilles tendon rupture Achilles tendon rupture is when the Achilles tendon, at the back of the ankle, breaks. Symptoms include the sudden onset of sharp pain in the heel. A snapping sound may be heard as the tendon breaks and walking becomes difficult. Rupture of the ...

injury in his right leg, which sidelined him off the court for the rest of season. Over 17

games, he averaged 9 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 2 assists per game, while also averaging 8 points and 2.6 assists over 15

Turkish League Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

games. His team eventually advanced to the

EuroLeague Final Four The EuroLeague Final Four is the final four format championship of the European-wide top-tier level EuroLeague professional club basketball competition. The Euroleague Basketball Company used the final four format for the first time in 2002, fo ...

for the first time in team's history. On May 15, 2015, however, they lost in the semi-final game to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, by a score of 87–96. On July 26, 2016, Hickman signed a 1+1 deal with Italian League club

EA7 Emporio Armani Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an Lega Basket Serie A, LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and th ...

. On July 14, 2017, Hickman signed a two-year contract with German League club

Brose Bamberg Bamberg Baskets is a German professional basketball team from Bamberg, Franconia/North Bavaria. The club has won the German Championship title nine times and the German Cup six times. The club currently plays in the German top tier Basketball ...

. Hickman began the 2019–20 season as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

. On 6 January 2020, he signed with the Italian club

Pallacanestro Trieste Pallacanestro Trieste 2004 is an Italian professional basketball club based in Trieste. They played in the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) for five seasons (2018–19 LBA season, 2018–19 to 2022–23 LBA season, 2022–23 season); after winning playof ...

, for the second half remainder of the season.

National team career

Hickman represented the senior Georgian national team in

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

competitions. With Georgia, he played at the

2013 EuroBasket EuroBasket 2013 was the 38th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It took place from 4 September until 22 September 2013 in Slovenia. The number of participating teams was 24. France defeated Lithuania in the ...

, where he averaged 11.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game, over 5 group stage games.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;",

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", Maccabi , 27 , , 27 , , 28.9 , , .448 , , .356 , , .784 , , 2.7 , , 3.1 , , 1.4 , , .2 , , 13.5 , , 14.9 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#AFE6BA;", 2013–14† , 30 , , 26 , , 28.7 , , .440 , , .326 , , .752 , , 2.6 , , 2.7 , , .8 , , .1 , , 12.2 , , 11.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", Fenerbahçe , 17 , , 4 , , 22.1 , , .333 , , .328 , , .800 , , 2.5 , , 2.0 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , 9.0 , , 7.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , 20 , , 3 , , 11.8 , , .423 , , .310 , , .793 , , 1.3 , , 1.3 , , .4 , , .0 , , 4.6 , , 4.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

Milano Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nearly 1.4 million, while i ...

, 30 , , 20 , , 24.9 , , .419 , , .349 , , .802 , , 2.6 , , 3.3 , , .8 , , .1 , , 10.1 , , 10.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...

, 28 , , 21 , , 23.9 , , .385 , , .326 , , .818 , , 2.3 , , 2.2 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , 11.7 , , 9.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 152 , , 101 , , 24.1 , , .408 , , .336 , , .778 , , 2.4 , , 2.6 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 10.6 , , 10.2