By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The first newcomer to the ALBA men’s team for the 2023/24 season: The 26-year-old, 2.01 tall American Justin Bean is strengthening coach Israel González’s squad and has signed a three-season contract with ALBA.
The power forward was trained at the prestigious Utah State University in the NCAA, where he put up 17.4 points and 9.9 rebounds per game in his senior year. He spent last season with Memphis Hustle in the G-League, where he averaged 10.3 points and 7.4 rebounds. Most recently, he played for the Boston Celtics in the 2023 Summer League.
Justin Barrus Bean was born on November 17, 1996, in Moore, Oklahoma, USA. He began his basketball career at Southmoore High School and then served for two years as a missionary at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Reno, Nevada.
In the summer of 2018, he started his college career at Utah State University, where he first had to play his way into the roster as a red shirt, but then quickly became one of the key players. In his final NCAA season, 2021-22, he averaged 17.4 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game and hit 46.5 percent of his three-pointers. He left Utah State as the second-best rebounder in program history (1,027) and was picked twice for the second-team All-Mountain West (2021, 2022), once for the third-team All-Mountain West (2020 ) and once nominated for the Mountain West All-Defensive Team (2020).
In March 2022, Bean entered the NBA draft but was not selected. After stints for the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2022 Summer League, Bean played the 2022-23 G-League season for Memphis Hustle. There he averaged 28.4 minutes, 10.3 points, and 7.4 rebounds in 49 games. With the Memphis Grizzlies farm team, he finished the G-League main round in second place in the Western Conference.
Bean was again active in the NBA Summer League this summer, this time with the Boston Celtics. There, the 26-year-old again showed his all-around qualities with 7.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists in an average of 18.8 minutes.