Maarty Leunen has spent most of the past four years settling into a quiet family life in the Italian countryside.

Now in his fifth year as a professional basketball player overseas, the 27-year-old from Redmond still considers the NBA a possibility — but he would be perfectly content to stay in Europe, where he plays for Mapooro Cantu of the Italian Serie A league, regarded as one of the better leagues in the world outside of the NBA.

The 6-foot-9-inch Leunen, a former star at Redmond High and the University of Oregon, said he realized after a couple of seasons overseas that he would not mind playing in Europe for a long time.

“My ultimate goal is to play in the NBA as I dreamed as a kid, but I’m at the point in my career where I have built a strong reputation in Europe to play at a very high level,” Leunen said via email from Italy this week. “So if I ever do have the option to play in the NBA, I would have to weigh my options and what would be best for me and my family.”

And that family is growing. Leunen has two sons, Gavin, 4, and Prestin, 2, with his wife, Caitlin. His family lives with him in Italy during the season, which runs from mid-August to May or June. They return to their home in Redmond for the summers.

“The kids love coming to the games and cheering for me,” Leunen said.

Leunen is averaging 8.6 points and 3.8 rebounds in 10 games in his fourth season with Cantu, and he has made 17 of his 35 three-point attempts, shooting nearly 50 percent from beyond the arc. Last season, he averaged 9.5 points and 4.8 rebounds.

Cantu (9-4) is currently in fourth place in the 16-team Serie A.

“I now play for one of the best teams in Europe, and obviously Italy,” Leunen said. “I think we’ve got a great chance to win the Italian league. The last three years we were battling for the title every year but always came up short.”

Leunen said his style of play is suited perfectly to European basketball — which, he observed, has a slower pace to the game than the NBA — and to the season, as teams typically play only once per week. While Leunen is regarded as a fundamentally sound forward with perimeter skills, he has never been considered a quick, high-flying slasher.

“Players (in Europe) are not so athletic and I feel like you have to understand the game better,” Leunen said. “So I feel like I translate very well for Europe. I understand the game very well, I’m skilled and can shoot the ball very well.”

Leunen led Redmond High to the 2003 big-school state championship and took the Panthers back to the title game in 2004. At UO he played on two NCAA tournament teams, including the Duck squad that advanced to the Elite Eight in 2007. He received Pac-10 postseason honors in his junior and senior seasons.

In 2008, Leunen was selected by the Houston Rockets with the 24th pick in the second round of the NBA draft, the 54th selection overall. In his first year out of college he played for a team in Istanbul, Turkey, averaging 12.1 points and 6.2 rebounds.

He played for the Rockets’ Summer League team in 2008 through 2010, but he never got a roster spot with Houston’s NBA team.

In 2009, Leunen moved from Istanbul to Cantu, where he has remained since. He noted that while he does not make the $1 million or more per season that some top European players are paid, he does earn enough to “live comfortably.”

Cantu sounds like an easy place in which to do so. Located just north of Milan, Italy, and just south of Switzerland, Cantu has a population of 40,000 and is framed by the Swiss Alps.

“It’s very different in its own way but it is very similar to Oregon,” Leunen said of Cantu. “The country is very green with a lot of trees and lakes.”

Leunen said he enjoys the Italian food, the “relaxing and peaceful” lifestyle, and the history and architecture of Milan, which is just 30 minutes away. He said the language barrier has never been much of an issue because his coach and all his teammates speak English.

“But unfortunately after four years my Italian still isn’t very good just because I really don’t have to speak it,” Leunen noted.

While he said he is closest to his American teammates, Leunen also this season has teammates from Georgia (the country), Bosnia, Uruguay, Czech Republic, Austria and Italy.

“The great thing about playing in Europe, I have had the opportunity to play with players from different countries and create great relationships,” Leunen said. “I have adapted to every place I have gone to and have embraced the experience. I know playing basketball is only a small part of my life so I try to do my best to make the most of it.”