By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Livio Jean-Charles inked a 1+1 contract with CSKA, the team announced Monday.
“CSKA is one of the European clubs with long glorious history, and I am excited to become a part of it. And I am definitely waiting for this coming season very much,” mentioned the incoming forward, per the press release.
Jean-Charles, 28, parted ways with Olympiacos after spending the last couple of seasons in Greece and making the 2022 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four. The former player of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne became a draft pick in 2013 as the San Antonio Spurs selected him 28th overall.
“Livio has an experience of playing in EuroLeague with Olympiakos in the past two seasons and with ASVEL in the year before that. He is a dynamic, athletic big man that can cover positions 5 and 4. He is versatile offensively as he can roll fast and finish above the rim, but also can knock down open shots from 3-point range. Livio is a very good defensive player that can guard “bigs” inside the paint but also guards on the perimeter. I think that he will fit well in our system and will become one more important part of our team,” said head coach Emil Rajkovic.
Per CSKA: “A native of French Guiana, he was early noticed by the selectors of the national team and from the age of 14 he was brought up in the Paris training center for young players. Attention to Livio played a good role: since then, he managed to play for the French national teams for all ages. In 2013, as part of ASVEL, Jean-Charles was recognized as the best young player of the national championship, in the summer of the same year he became the most valuable player in the Nike Hoop Summit and was selected 28th by San Antonio in the NBA draft.
Due to a knee injury that happened the same summer, Livio did not play in the strongest league in the world. Moreover, he spent almost a year recovering, continued to play in Villeurbanne, and for the first time appeared overseas only in 2017, checking in with the Austin Spurs, the San Antonio G-League club. The player’s dossier includes three seasons in the EuroLeague with Asvel and Olympiacos, a total of 85 games, 6.3 points (61% two-pointers, 82% free throws), 3.0 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.5 interceptions, 0.5 blocks. It was in the Greek club that the Frenchman spent the previous two years, won the Greek League and Greek Cup and took part in the 2022 EuroLeague Final Four.”