Benoît da Cortona

Biography

Although the only son of a Swiss-French couple, Benoist da Cortona won't say he's either Swiss or French when asked what his nationality is. "Sauget" is the answer, since for the better part of his life, he's lived in one of the world's many tiny geopolitical curiosities: micronations, specifically the self-proclaimed Republic of Saugeais, situated on the extreme east of France—just a stone's throw away from the Swiss border.

The rather hardy yet peaceful conditions of the little "country" had given him a type of patriotism for his homeland, which would prove to be a literal selling point for the republic when word came around about him performing unusually well at his school's phys-ed basketball games. What simply passed as routine for the wood grouse turned into an overnight sensation as a rec league tournament was made up on the spot to drive up attention from younger tourists: intense sports action surrounded by natural beauty, perhaps a very discount Olympics.

While many expected Benoist's team to win an admittedly unserious event, what they did not expect was for their team to win by a margin just a few dozen shy of a hundred, carried by the avian's "cheating catch-and-shoot shenanigans," as one spectator yelled in bad faith. Nevertheless, he was given a very modest grant to at the very least try out at an out-of-town school with more professional basketball facilities... on the condition that he would promote Saugeais. Several familial arguments later, he would be given permission to travel to the metropolitan west, specifically enrolling in the Université Régionale de la Préservation de Dijon for a course in tourism or heritage in case his impromptu dreams of making it big with something he did all the time at the school's ancient paved court fall apart.

At Preservation's sporting club, he would excel as a reliable sixth fur, able to chuck down threes from anywhere in the perimeter. While he wouldn't be known for much else, that reliablity alone got him talked to by a nearby pro team stagnating in the third tier of the French basketball pyramid: Dijon 1997. Signing up for them in 2022, Benoist wound up warping his co-players' game plan into a proactive three-point hydra: opposing teams often tunnel-visioned both him and the other, more veteran perimeter shooter on his side, opening themselves up to ruthless slashers.

How successful was Benoist's addition to Dijon 1997? Enough to skyrocket them to promotion twice, needing only one season in the second tier to make it to the highest level of French professional basketball, more so when the team barely suffered any roster changes in between leagues. Although the 1997 have not won any championships in the top flight just yet, Benoist has taken pride in the fact that he entered this club as their turning point, a sort of Sauget savior in disguise.

Still, while he has declared for the 2025 FBA Draft, concerns lay open about his motivation beyond the short-term of finding success in an even higher field of play. For one, through both his Preservation and Dijon 1997 tenure, he has politely (and not-so-politely) requested that he would wear the Sauget flag somewhere on his person during press conferences, heaping unnecessary looks and comments towards his "country"'s way. In addition, while he has vastly improved his three-point shot, he hasn't yet shown a willingness to learn much else, citing the creed that "to do a thing a thousand times is perfection"; he has taken up honing other skills such as rudimentary defense only as a necessity, especially after Dijon 1997's first promotion.

Reclusive yet immensely proud of the small strip of land he was born and raised in (at least on the surface), what will Benoist da Cortona seek beyond just thriving in the pinnacle of basketball, as if somehow falling upward?

(In his spare time, Benoist crafts "kitsch" wooden carvings, partly to help support himself.)