By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne has been hit with a player registration ban following a failure to clear substantial financial debts owed to former center Joffrey Lauvergne.
According to Eurohoops sources, the French club still owes €300,000 to the current Partizan Mozzart Bet player. The sanctions were triggered after ASVEL failed to honor two consecutive installments from a previous arrangement.
Consequently, 35-year-old Lauvergne is taking the club back to the Basketball Arbitral Tribunal, effectively freezing their ability to make any new roster additions.
The 2.11-meter big played for ASVEL between 2022 and 2025. Before that, he logged 208 NBA games with the Denver Nuggets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Chicago Bulls, and San Antonio Spurs. He returned to Europe’s top-tier league and joined Partizan for a second spell last April. Now, he is poised to build on his 170 career appearances in the EuroLeague.
This administrative penalty lands right in the middle of the first double-game week on the 2026–27 continental schedule. The team coached by Tony Parker sits at a 1-1 record, tied with seven other teams in seventh place in the standings. On Friday, they are set to host Valencia in the LDLC Arena.
The team based in a suburb of Lyon faced several financial difficulties over the offseason. A forced budget reduction saw their projected capital plummet drastically. This massive squeeze led to the premature exits of some players who had only recently joined, forcing management to re-establish a completely new roster.
Deprived of the flexibility to secure roster upgrades, ASVEL must navigate this early stretch of the EuroLeague campaign with their current choices frozen.
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