Βy Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Panathinaikos Athens announced that 2023 All-EuroLeague center Mathias Lessort signed a two-year contract with the club. The French big man becomes the latest major acquisition of the Greens this offseason after guard Luca Vildoza and forward/center Kostas Antetokounmpo.
Lessort, 27, spent the previous two years with Partizan Belgrade. He was named to the All-EuroLeague First Team last season after posting 12.0 points, a competition-leading 7.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists while Partizan made the playoffs and was eliminated in a five-game series vs. Real Madrid.
Panathinaikos made a big effort to also sign Lessort’s Partizan teammate Kevin Punter but the latter agreed to a deal with Barcelona.
Per Panathinaikos:
Mathias Lessort is a basketball player born on September 29, 1995 in Fort-de-France, France. He is a center who last played for Partizan Belgrade.
Born in the French overseas department of Martinique, Lessort joined the youth ranks of Elan Chalon in 2010 and won the French national championship with Chalon’s cadet team in 2012 and 2013 and with their development team (“Espoirs”) in 2013.
Lessort was handed his first professional contract by the club in June 2014 and made his debut in the French top-flight Pro A during the 2014-15 season. In 2015-16, he logged his first minutes in a European club competition, the FIBA Europe Cup.
On 1 June 2016 he joined JSF Nanterre of the French Pro A on a three-year deal. In April 2017, Lessort won both the French Basketball Cup and the FIBA Europe Cup championships with Nanterre.
Lessort was drafted in the second round as the 50th pick in the 2017 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. In July 2019, his draft rights were traded to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of a four-team trade. On 19 November 2020 his draft rights were traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Lessort’s draft rights were traded again, to the New York Knicks, on 20 November.
In August 2017 Lessort signed with Crvena Zvezda and He played there only in the 2017–18 season, before signing with Spanish ACB side Unicaja in July 2018. Lessort spent the 2019-20 season in Germany with Bayern Munich.
On 18 September 2020 Lessort signed with AS Monaco of the LNB Pro A and won the Eurocup.
On 25 September 2021 Lessort signed a 2-month contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Premier League in order to replace the injured Ante Zizic.
In December 2021, he signed with KK Partizan of the Basketball League of Serbia, the ABA League and the EuroCup. He won the 2022-23 ABA League with BC Partizan Belgrade.
Lessort is member of the French National Team and won the bronze medal at the 2019 World Championship.
More to come…