By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
From Tony Parker’s…. “employee” to teammate in the San Antonio Spurs! That’s the story of French forward Livio Jean-Charles who signed a contract with the Texan team as the Spurs announced.
During the previous season, Jean-Charles was crowned French League champion with Asvel Villeurbanne. He averaged 5.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in the regular season plus 7.5 and 4.8 rebounds in the Finals helping his team recover from a 0-2 deficit in the series and making an impressive comeback with three straight victories to win the title.
The club’s official announcement:
The San Antonio Spurs today announced that they have signed forward Livio Jean-Charles. Per club policy, terms of the contract were not announced.
Jean-Charles, 6-9/225, was originally drafted by the Spurs with the 28th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. The 22-year-old has spent the last four seasons with ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne of the French Pro-A League. Last season he saw action in 25 games, averaging 5.9 points and 4.6 rebounds in 21.2 minutes while shooting .552 (64-116) from the field and .655 (19-29) from the foul line. In the playoffs he appeared in 11 games, upping his averages to 7.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in 25.9 minutes helping lead ASVEL to the French League championship. Jean-Charles also made eight FIBA Europe Cup appearances, averaging 8.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 23.9 minutes.
Prior to joining Lyon-Villeurbanne, Jean-Charles spent two seasons with Centre Federal du Basket-Ball in the French-NM1 League.
Jean-Charles represented France on the U-20 National Team at the 2012 and 2013 U-20 European Championships. At the 2013 U-20 Championships, he averaged 17.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists.
In April 2013, Jean-Charles participated in the Nike Hoop Summit where he was named the Most Outstanding Player after a 27-point, 13-rebound effort, leading the World Team to a 112-98 win over the USA Junior Select Team that included current NBA players Karl-Anthony Towns, Joel Embiid and Jabari Parker.