Theo Maledon

Theo Maledon was born June 12, 2001 in Rouen, a city on the River Seine in northern France. Both of his parents, Sylvie and Claude, played organized basketball in France. And his sister, Lena, played college basketball in the United States for Ranger College and Southern Arkansas. As a youth, Theo began playing basketball with his local club Mesnil-Esnard in Seine-Maritime and then SPO Rouen. As a 14-year-old, Maledon earned a scholarship to join the National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance (INSEP), a sports institute in Paris. He played two seasons for INSEP's NM1 and U-18 teams. In April of 2017, Maledon played and scored 15 points in the Jordan Brand Classic Global Showcase at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The young point guard signed his first professional contract in August, 2018 with ASVEL, after playing for their junior team the prior season. Maledon has played for the U-16, U-17 and Senior French national teams. Prior to playing in the NBA, Theo Maledon played professionally in France. On June 16, 2017, the scrappy point guard joined the junior team of LNB Pro A club ASVEL which played in the LNB Espoirs, the French U21 league. The team is located in Villeurbanne, a suburb of Lyon, France. Maledon scored 10 points and dished five assists in his debut for the U-21 ASVEL squad. He made his Pro A debut on September 24, 2017 at age 16, making him the second youngest debutant in team history. In August of 2018, Maledon signed his first professional contract via a three-year agreement with ASVEL. In French Pro A and EuroCup play, Maledon posted 6.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.0 assists over 17 minutes per game as a 17-year-old during the 2018-19 season. Maledon returned to ASVEL and made his EuroLeague debut. In his second EuroLeague game, Maledon suffered a shoulder injury that forced him to miss over a month of court action. He returned to EuroLeague play in January. Over 22 EuroLeague games, Maledon delivered 7.4 points, 3.1 assists and 0.8 three-pointers in 17.7 minutes per game before the season was cut short due to COVID-19 concerns. After the season, Maledon declared himself eligible for the 2020 NBA Draft.