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Yves Pons

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Yves Pons
Pons with Tennessee in 2020
No. 5 – Bàsquet Girona
PositionSmall forward / power forward
LeagueLiga ACB
Personal information
Born (1999-05-07) 7 May 1999 (age 25)
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
NationalityHaitian / French
Listed height6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High schoolINSEP
(Paris, France)
CollegeTennessee (2017–2021)
NBA draft2021: undrafted
Playing career2021–present
Career history
2021–2022Memphis Grizzlies
2021–2022→Memphis Hustle
2022–2023ASVEL Villeurbanne
2023–presentBàsquet Girona
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  France
FIBA U16 European Championship
Gold medal – first place 2014 Latvia Team

Yves Pons (born 7 May 1999) is a Haitian-born French professional basketball player for Bàsquet Girona of the Liga ACB. He played college basketball for the Tennessee Volunteers.

Early life and career

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Pons was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and spent three and a half years with his biological mom. He was born in Port-au-Prince, which is the capital, but his hometown was Cité Soleil.[citation needed] It's one of the biggest areas in Haiti and is also the poorest part of Haiti.[citation needed] His mom, by law, had to send him to the orphanage because she couldn't take care of him, and he was pretty sick at the time.[citation needed]

After close to a year in the orphanage, Yves was taken in by his adopted parents, Babeth and Jean-Claude Pons, who lived in France.[1] Pons attended French sports institute INSEP, in Paris, and played for its affiliated club Centre Fédéral de Basket-ball in the Nationale Masculine 1 (NM1), the amateur third-tier division of French basketball.[2]

Recruiting

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Pons decided to play college basketball in the United States for Tennessee under head coach Rick Barnes, after being recruited by assistant coach Michael Schwartz. He chose the Volunteers over offers from Florida and Texas Tech.[3] He became the first four-star recruit to play for Barnes at Tennessee and the first French men's basketball player in school history.[4]

College recruiting information
Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight Commit date
Yves Pons
SF 		Fuveau, France INSEP (France) 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Feb 28, 2017 
Star ratings: Rivals:4/5 stars   247Sports:4/5 stars
Overall recruiting rankings:   247Sports: 63
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

  • "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved 24 November 2019.

College career

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Pons in January 2019

Pons suffered an ankle injury in his Tennessee debut, a win over Presbyterian, and was limited to four minutes.[5] In his freshman season, he played 24 games off the bench and averaged 5.2 minutes per game. As a sophomore, Pons scored a season-high 10 points against Eastern Kentucky in his first career start.[6] In February 2019, Pons suffered a facial fracture in a collision in practice and underwent a corrective procedure.[7] Pons averaged 2.2 points per game as a sophomore, but put in a lot of work on his game after the season.[8] He saw considerable improvement as a junior, scoring a career-high 15 points in his season debut versus UNC Asheville and eclipsing that mark in his next game after scoring 19 versus Murray State.[9] At the conclusion of the regular season, Pons was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year.[10] As a junior, Pons averaged 10.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game.[11] Following the season, he declared for the 2020 NBA draft.[12] On August 3, Pons announced he was returning to Tennessee for his senior season.[13]

Professional career

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Memphis Grizzlies (2021–2022)

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After going undrafted in the 2021 NBA draft, Pons joined the Memphis Grizzlies for the 2021 NBA Summer League.[14] On August 10, 2021, he signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Grizzlies,[15] which was subsequently turned into a two-way contract. Under the terms of the deal, he split time with the Grizzlies and their NBA G League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle.[16] Pons was transferred to the Hustle on January 30, 2022.[17] On February 6, he was ruled out due to a thigh injury, and missed several games.[18]

ASVEL (2022–2023)

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Pons joined the Brooklyn Nets for the 2022 NBA Summer League.[19] On July 26, 2022, Pons signed a two-year contract with ASVEL Basket of the French LNB Pro A.[20] On July 25, 2023, Pons was released from the French club.[21]

Bàsquet Girona (2023–present)

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On 25 July 2023, Pons signed with Bàsquet Girona of the Spanish Liga ACB.[21][22]

National team career

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Pons won a gold medal with France at the 2014 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship in Latvia, after averaging 3.8 points per game.[23] He averaged 10.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game at the 2016 FIBA Under-17 World Championship in Zaragoza, Spain, as his team finished in sixth place.[24] In 2019, Pons joined France at the FIBA U20 European Championship in Tel Aviv, Israel, where he averaged 2.6 points per game for the fourth-place team.[25]

Career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

NBA

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2021–22 Memphis 12 0 5.9 .313 .333 .000 1.0 .1 .1 .3 1.1
Career 12 0 5.9 .313 .333 .000 1.0 .1 .1 .3 1.1

College

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2017–18 Tennessee 24 0 5.2 .500 .667 .500 .6 .2 .1 .1 .7
2018–19 Tennessee 35 13 11.7 .516 .280 .400 1.8 .5 .3 .4 2.2
2019–20 Tennessee 31 31 33.9 .489 .349 .638 5.4 1.1 .4 2.4 10.8
2020–21 Tennessee 26 26 28.5 .466 .274 .789 5.3 .7 .7 1.8 8.7
Career 116 70 20.1 .484 .318 .653 3.3 .6 .4 1.2 5.7

EuroLeague

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2022–23 ASVEL 30 3 14.4 .494 .324 .462 1.8 .3 .5 .4 3.7 3.1
Career 30 3 14.4 .494 .324 .462 1.8 .3 .5 .4 3.7 3.1

References

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  1. ^ Hein, David (17 January 2017). "Spectacular Pons loud on the court, reserved off the hardwood". heinnews. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  2. ^ Hein, David (22 March 2017). "How reliable is Yves Pons? French ace injured again". heinnews. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  3. ^ Ramey, Grant (13 April 2017). "The story behind Tennessee landing Yves Pons". 247Sports. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  4. ^ Calhoun, Caleb (28 February 2017). "Tennessee Basketball Recruiting: Four-Star Forward from France Yves Pons Commits to Vols". All For Tennessee. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  5. ^ Megargee, Steve (10 November 2017). "Vols capitalize on 28-0 run to trounce Presbyterian 88-53". USA Today. Associated Press. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  6. ^ Provost-Heron, Troy (28 November 2018). "Yves Pons kickstarts Vols in win over Eastern Kentucky". The Daily Times. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  7. ^ Kaplan, Phil (13 February 2019). "UT Vols' Yves Pons wears mask, plays briefly, after suffering facial injury". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  8. ^ Ramey, Grant (18 November 2019). "Is this the new normal for Yves Pons?". 247 Sports. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  9. ^ Henley, Gene (19 November 2019). "Vols forward Yves Pons has made tremendous progress since last season". Chattanooga Times Free Press. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  10. ^ "SEC announces 2020 Men's Basketball Awards" (Press release). Southeastern Conference. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  11. ^ Tsoukalas, Tony (11 March 2020). "How to watch: Alabama basketball vs Tennessee in the SEC Tournament". Rivals.com. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  12. ^ Martin, Brandon (25 April 2020). "Report: Yves Pons Declares for NBA Draft". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  13. ^ Wilson, Mike (3 August 2020). "Yves Pons returning to Tennessee basketball for senior season". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  14. ^ "Memphis Grizzlies announce 2021 Salt Lake City Summer League roster". NBA.com. 2 August 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  15. ^ "Memphis Grizzlies sign Yves Pons". NBA.com. 10 August 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  16. ^ "Memphis Grizzlies announce 2021 training camp roster". NBA.com. 23 September 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  17. ^ "Grizzlies' Yves Pons: Transferred to G League". CBS Sports. 30 January 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  18. ^ "Grizzlies' Yves Pons: Out of action". CBS Sports. 6 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  19. ^ "Brooklyn Nets 2022 NBA2K23 Summer League Roster". NBA.com. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  20. ^ Skerletic, Dario (26 July 2022). "Asvel signs Yves Pons until 2024". Sportando. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  21. ^ a b "Yves Pons parts ways with ASVEL and joins Girona". Eurohoops. 25 July 2023. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  22. ^ "Girona tabs Yves Pons". Eurobasket. 26 July 2023. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  23. ^ "Barnes Announces Signing of Yves Pons". University of Tennessee Athletics. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  24. ^ Sparks, Adam (18 October 2017). "Myth of Yves Pons grows before Vols debut". The Tennessean. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  25. ^ Ramey, Grant (16 June 2019). "Yves Pons spending summer playing for France U20 national team". 247Sports. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
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