By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
With Mathias Lessort still on the market and Maccabi wanting a big man to fill the gap left by injured Ante Zizic, the match was obvious. The Israeli powerhouse announced the addition of the French big man with a two-month contract, that can be extended.
Per club announcement:
Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv has signed center Matthias Lessort (26, 2.06 m) on a contract for the next two months. The energetic Frenchman played last season for Monaco, who won the EuroCup – the second most important basketball competition in Europe – and qualified to the Euroleague.
“We are very happy that we bring one more player to help us now that we start the season”, coach Giannis Sfairopoulos told maccabi.co.il. “Mathias Lessort is a player that comes to add power to our frontline, after the injury of Ante Zizic. Mathias is an experienced Euroleague player that will adjust fast to the needs of the team. I want to thank our owners that one more time they did their best for the club”.
“I am excited to join Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv and start working”, Lessort told to Maccabi’s official website after signing the contract. “I come to help the team with everything I can. It is an honor to join a huge and decorated club in European basketball with great fans like there are in Tel Aviv”.
n 23 games in which he took part in the European competition last season, Lessort scored 12.5 points for and grabbed more than 6 rebounds in 25 minutes on average on the floor. In the French league he played an average of 22 minutes per night, in which he scored 11 points and grabbed just under 6 rebounds.
In the two Eurocup finals (home and away), Lessort scored 25 points in 60 minutes and added 9 rebounds. Three of his record games last season in the EuroCup were against Unicaja Malaga, when in one game he scored 20 points, grabbed 9 rebounds and stole 4 balls, while in another game he scored 21 points and added 11 rebounds. Against Buduchnost he provided 24 points and 7 boards.
Mathias Lessort was born on September 29th, 1995 on the island of Martinique, French territory in the Antilles. He grew up in the youth department of Chalon and joined the senior team in 2014. He moved to Nanterre and in 2017 was selected by Philadelphia in the second round of the NBA Draft. In the 2017/18 season he played for Crvena Zvezda, then spent time in Malaga from the Spanish league and two years ago the Frenchman played for Bayern Munich.