By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
If it wasn’t for that 2017-18 season in Turkey, David Holston would have now been the leader of JDA Bourgogne Dijon for eight straight years. Starting his overseas career with Pinar Karsiyaka, he moved around a little, until he found his “second home” in France, as he told Eurohoops last season.
It doesn’t really matter who you put next to him: he’s gonna be there, almost at the French border with Switzerland, making magic on the court. He has been happening in the Basketball Champions League since 2018-19 when JDA Dijon played its first season in the European competition.
Since then, the now 37-year-old American point guard has always averaged at least double-digit numbers in scoring, having his best personal season in terms of efficiency (14.4 per game) in 2021-22: 13.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 6.3 assists.
🗒️ #𝑩𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍𝑪𝑳 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒍𝒅:
1_ David Holston’s killer crossovers.#BasketballCL | @jdadijonbasket pic.twitter.com/1JDBISfMge— Basketball Champions League (@BasketballCL) October 18, 2023
Joining the exclusive top-four scoring club with style
Entering his year’s Basketball Champions League Regular Season – facing Rytas Vilnius, Promitheas Patras, and BK Opava in Group B -, he couldn’t start things off better, as he contributed to his team’s thrilling 87-83 victory, avoiding the Lithuanian team’s comeback in the second half.
Scoring 13 points with 4 rebounds and 7 assists, the Chicago State alumni managed to enter an exclusive BCL club, breaking the 800-point barrier in the competition, standing at a total of 810 points scored in his 6th season, only behind Levi Randolph (836), Giorgi Shermadini (933), and Vojtech Hruban (996). These veterans, by the way, are all currently playing in the competition.
While making his presence felt scoring-wise, he can also share the ball pretty well, being the 2nd best-assist man in the Basketball Champions League’s history with 386 decisive passes shared since its first-ever game in the BCL, back on October 9, 2018, scoring 16 points and 5 assists against Vojtech Hruban’s CEZ Nymburk.
Despite a rough start in the domestic league, the 37-year-old stepped up as well in France, leading JDA Dijon to the crucial seven-point (73-66) win against Chalon, performing his second-best ever scoring game with the French club after dropping 46 points against Le Mans in 2021: this weekend, he had 34 with 7/8 from two and 11/12 at the line.
Alongside a scoring partner like Gregor Hrovat and under Nenad Markovic’s guidance, David Holston will continue going up on that list, eventually trying to keep up the rhythm with Cholet, Tenerife, and Hapoel Jerusalem’s own veterans. “I want to keep trying to take care of my body, keep playing as much as I can, and give wisdom to the younger guys the best way I can. So all I can possibly do”, he said at the beginning of 2023 to Eurohoops. It seems like he’s a man of his word.
3⃣4⃣ POINTS POUR DAVID HOLSTON !
😱🔥@jdadijonbasket x @LNBofficiel #SKWEEKLive #BetclicELITE #JournéeDerby pic.twitter.com/xnF6A1VlP0
— SKWEEK (@skweektv) October 21, 2023
PHOTO CREDIT: Basketball Champions League