By John Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Walter Tavares hadn’t even played basketball until he was 17 years old. Nine years later he has 613 blocks in all club competitions he has competed since. This impressive stat could be translated to a simpler but at the same time jaw-dropping 2.1 blocks per game. Not bad for a player with a 7-year professional career at men’s level and a 9-year basketball experience.
The 26-year-old has played in the EuroLeague, 7DAYS EuroCup and NBA, but his biggest block parties were in G League. He spent time at Canton Charge, Austin Spurs, Bakersfield Jam and Raptors 905 during the 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 campaigns.
The 25th of March of 2017 it poor blocks during a 85-69 Raptors 905 victory against the Erie BayHawks. Tavares blocked 12 of the visitor shots for his career high. He also scored 12 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to get the triple-double. One year earlier, March 27th of 2016, he blocked ten shots in Austin Spurs’ 98-72 victory over the Santa Cruz Warriors.
He may never have gotten the chance he wanted in the NBA before returning to Europe, but on April 12th of 2017, he got six blocks in a 98-83 Toronto Raptors win against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He also had six points and ten rebounds in the best of his 13 NBA matches.
Injury-plagued Real Madrid took him onboard last November and he has since proved to be a blocking machine. After he was “discovered” in Cape Verde, he began his career in Spain with Gran Canaria and continued in the country until he decided compete for a spot in the roster of a NBA team.
Check out Tavares’ career profile.
His Spanish experience helped him adjust faster to the blancos. He ultimately became a EuroLeague and ACB Champion. However, this year he seems even more lethal in the paint. In 2017-18 he averaged 1.5 blocks in the EuroLeague, 2.1 in ACB’s regular season and 2.3 in the playoffs. This year he has upped his stats to 2.2 in the EuroLeague and 2.5 in the Spanish League! He is the player with the most blocks so far in both leagues.
His defensive presence is of course a valuable weapon for Pablo Laso. Real’s objective is to keep the EuroLeague and ACB championships at Madrid and Tavares is already helping his team achieve its goals. His steady progress year after year proves that he could only become an even better rim protector in the future.