Aleksander Roman "Olek" Balcerowski (born 19 November 2000) is a Polish professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for

Herbalife Gran Canaria Club Baloncesto Gran Canaria – Claret, S.A.D., is a professional basketball club based in Las Palmas, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home arena is the Gran Canaria Arena. From 2012 until 2021, they have been sponsored by Herbalif ...

of the

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

. Also, he represents Poland national team internationally.

Playing career

Balcerowski started career in

Górnik Wałbrzych Gornik may refer to one of the following. * Gornik, Pleven Province, a village in Chechen Republic *April Gornik, an American painter *Górnik (means "Miner" in Polish) is a common name of Polish sports teams: **Górnik Konin **Górnik Łęczna *** ...

, Poland. In 2014, he joined

at the age of 14 and entered their youth system. Clearly being tall was a factor but in terms of playing ability, Balcerowski had plenty to offer and the Pole worked hard during his time in the youth set-up in Spain to establish himself as one of the standout performers in the youth teams. Under three years later, Balcerowski became the second youngest player to pull on the vest for the Herbalife Gran Canaria men's team as he made his first team debut at just 17 years and 14 days old. Having participated in the EuroLeague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Ciutat de L'Hospitalet twice, Balcerowski made his debut in the EuroCup, playing against

Tofaş S.K. Tofaş Spor Kulübü (''English: Tofaş Sports Club'') (more commonly known as Tofaş) is a professional basketball team that is based in Bursa, Turkey. Their home arena is the Tofaş Nilüfer Spor Salonu, with a capacity of 7,500 seats. The team ...

in December 2017. Come the end of the

2020–21 EuroCup Basketball The 2020–21 EuroCup Basketball season was the 19th season of Euroleague Basketball's secondary level professional club basketball tournament. It was the 13th season since it was renamed from the ULEB Cup to the EuroCup, and the fifth season un ...

competition, Balcerowski was awarded the EuroCup Basketball Rising Star. He made 65.6 percent of his two-point shots, averaging 6.5 points and 3.7 rebounds in 15 EuroCup games. During 2020, when playing for Gran Canaria he recorded a career-high 10 rebounds in a game against

CB Zamora Club Baloncesto Zamora, also known as Aquimisa Laboratorios for sponsorship reasons, is a basketball club based in Zamora, Castile and León that currently plays in LEB Plata, the third tier of Spanish basketball. History Founded in 1978, CB Za ...

and a career-best 26 points against CB Villarrobledo. Following the 2020–21 season Balcerowski declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA us ...

. In July 2021, he was loaned to Mega Basket of the

ABA League The ABA League, renamed to the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the 1st-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Mace ...

for the 2021–22 season. On 19 July 2021, he withdrawn his name from consideration for the 2021 NBA draft. He left Mega in February 2022.

Personal life

Balcerowski's parents, Marcin and Sylwia, are former professional basketball players. His father, Marcin, played for

in Poland's 2- and 3-tier leagues. In 1998, at the age of 21, Marcin survived a car accident. Since then, he has used a wheelchair. Soon after, he switched to wheelchair basketball, becoming a member of Polish national team. In 2021, Marcin Balcerowski has been named the head coach of Polish wheelchair basketball national team. Sylwia is from

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...

, Poland.

National team career

Balcerowski was a member of the Poland national team that finished eighth at the

2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 18th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams. The tournament was hosted in China and was rescheduled from 2018 to 2019, becoming the first since 1967 FIBA World Ch ...

. He was the youngest player at the tournament. Over eight tournament games, he averaged 2.5 points and 1.9 rebounds per game.

References

External links

Olek Balcerowski
on

RealGM RealGM.com is a sports website created in 2000. The site was originally a basketball site, but has since expanded its scope to provide information about American football, baseball, ice hockey and soccer. According to Alexa, the site ranked in the ...

Profile
at proballers.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Balcerowski, Aleksander Living people 2000 births ABA League players CB Gran Canaria players Centers (basketball) Expatriate basketball people in Serbia KK Mega Basket players Liga ACB players Polish expatriate basketball people in Spain Polish men's basketball players