Jón Axel Guðmundsson (born 27 October 1996) is an Icelandic professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for Victoria Libertas Pesaro of the Italian

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club basketball league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP). It is the highest-tie ...

(LBA). He played

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for the

Davidson Wildcats The Davidson Wildcats are the NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics teams representing Davidson College of Davidson, North Carolina, United States. A member of the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10), Davidson College sponsors teams in ten men's ...

. He won two

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, i ...

with

Grindavík Grindavík () is a fishing town on the Southern Peninsula of Iceland not far from the tuya Þorbjörn. It is one of the few cities with a harbour on this coast. Most of the inhabitants work in the fishing industry. The Blue Lagoon, Grindaví ...

in 2012 and 2013 and the Icelandic Basketball Cup in 2014.

Playing career

Grindavík

After coming up through the junior ranks of

, Jón Axel played his first senior match with the club in 2011. He won the Icelandic championship with the club in 2012 and 2013 and the Icelandic Basketball Cup in 2014.

Church Farm

Jón Axel started the 2014–2015 season with Church Farm School, averaging a team best 21 points per game before the christmas break. In January 2015, he decided to leave the school and return to Grindavík.

Return to Grindavík

In 12 regular-season games with Grindavík during the 2014–2015 season, Jón Axel averaged 15.6 points and 6.4 assists per game. He had a rough first-round series against eventual champions KR, going scoreless in game two and averaging only 6.7 points in the three-game sweep. During the 2015-2016 season, Jón Axel continued his improvement, averaging a career high 16.8 points and 8.0 rebounds, along with 5.2 assists per game. He scored a career high 35 points against

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavik merged with nearby Njar� ...

on 8 February 2016. In the playoffs, Grindavík faced KR again in the first round. Jón Axel posted a triple double in the first game, with 10 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assist but despite his performance, KR won 85-67. KR blew out Grindavík in the next two games and completed another three game sweep for the second year in a row. For the series, Jón Axel averaged 8.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists.

College

Jón Axel joined

Davidson College Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan� ...

in 2016. On 26 December 2016, he was named the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Easte ...

Rookie of the Week. On 23 November 2017, he was named the Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Week. On 11 March 2018, Jón Axel won the Atlantic 10 Conference championship with Davidson and helped the team advance to the 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. He averaged 13.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game as a sophomore. Coming into his junior season. Jón Axel was named to the Preseason Third Team All-Atlantic 10. On 17 November 2018, Jón Axel scored 33 points in Davidson's 57–53 victory over

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of stud ...

in the opening round of the

Charleston Classic The Charleston Classic is a three-day invitational college basketball season-opening tournament held in Charleston, South Carolina. An ESPN-owned and operated event, it is contested at TD Arena, home of the College of Charleston Cougars. Each t ...

. On 26 January 2019, Jón Axel scored 27 points, including two free throws with 5 seconds left, in Davidson's 54–53 victory against Saint Louis. On 22 February 2019, he posted a

triple-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

, 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, in a 75–66 victory over

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but i ...

. It was the first triple-double for a Davidson player since John Falconi had 17 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in 1973. On 25 February he was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Week after averaging 23.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 7.5 assists during the week of 18–24 February. On 12 March 2019, Jón Axel was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year as well as being selected to the First-team All-

Atlantic 10 The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

after averaging 17.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game for the season. In April 2019, Jón Axel declared for the

2019 NBA draft The 2019 NBA draft was held on June 20, 2019. It took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, i ...

. In May 2019, he had workouts with the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

and the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference, Northwest Division. Since the 1991–92 season, ...

. On 27 May, he announced that he would withdraw from the draft and return to Davidson for the 2019–20 season. In December 2019, Jón Axel was named to the

U.S. Basketball Writers Association The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) was founded in 1956 by National Collegiate Athletic Association director Walter Byers to serve the interests of journalists who cover college basketball. Scholarships The USBWA annually awar ...

watch list for the

Oscar Robertson Trophy The Oscar Robertson Trophy is given out annually to the outstanding men's college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the ...

. In 2020 he became the first Division I men's player since 1993 to hit career marks of 1,500 points, 700 rebounds, 500 assists, 200 made 3-pointers and 150 steals. At the close of the regular season, he was named to the Third Team All-Atlantic 10. With the 2019–20 season having been his final season of college eligibility, Jón Axel was automatically eligible for the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

Skyliners Frankfurt

On 15 July 2020, he signed with the Fraport Skyliners of the

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the highest level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 18 teams. A BBL seaso ...

(BBL). For the season, he averaged 12.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. In July 2021, it was announced that he would play for the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Pacific Division (NBA), P ...

in the 2021

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

Fortitudo Bologna

On 18 August 2021, he signed with

Fortitudo Bologna Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna 103, commonly known as Fortitudo Bologna and currently known as Fortitudo Kiğılı Bologna for sponsorship reasons, is a basketball club based in Bologna, Italy and currently plays in the second division. Histo ...

of the

(LBA).

Crailsheim Merlins

On January 18, 2022, he has signed with

Crailsheim Merlins The Crailsheim Merlins, for sponsorships reasons named Hakro Merlins Crailsheim, is a professional basketball club based in Crailsheim, Germany. Established in 1986, the club plays in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), the highest professional leag ...

of Germany's

Return to Grindavík

In September 2022, he worked out for the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

along with several other veteran players. After contemplating offers from teams in Europe and the G-League, Jón Axel joined

in October 2022.

Victoria Libertas Pesaro

On November 1, 2022, he signed with Victoria Libertas Pesaro of the Italian

(LBA).

National team career

In 2014, Jón Axel was named tournament MVP of U-18 Nordic Championship after averaging 29.3 points per game for the Icelandic U-18 team. He helped Iceland's U20 team finish second in the 2016 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship Division B. For his effort he was named to the All-Tournament team. Jón Axel played five games for the Icelandic men's national basketball team during the

2017 Games of the Small States of Europe The 2017 Games of the Small States of Europe, also known as the XVII Games of the Small States of Europe, took place in San Marino from 29 May to 3 June 2017. Development and preparation Venues Games Participating teams * ( 49) * (143) ...

. He did not fight for a spot on Iceland's

EuroBasket 2017 EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe and held between 31 August and 17 September 2017. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships take place every four years with a similar ...

team due to injuries.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

Davidson Davidson may refer to: * Davidson (name) * Clan Davidson, a Highland Scottish clan * Davidson Media Group * Davidson Seamount, undersea mountain southwest of Monterey, California, USA * Tyler Davidson Fountain, monument in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA ...

, 31 , , 29 , , 31.8 , , .411 , , .327 , , .733 , , 4.0 , , 3.5 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , 8.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 35.8 , , .460 , , .406 , , .796 , , 6.0 , , 5.1 , , 1.3 , , .0 , , 13.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 34 , , 36.8 , , .460 , , .353 , , .826 , , 7.3 , , 4.8 , , 1.3 , , .1 , , 16.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 30 , , 35.5 , , .420 , , .339 , , .769 , , 7.1 , , 4.3 , , 1.2 , , .1 , , 14.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 128 , , 126 , , 35.0 , , .441 , , .358 , , .791 , , 6.1 , , 4.4 , , 1.3 , , .1 , , 13.3

Personal life

Jón Axel is the son of Stefanía S. Jónsdóttir, a former member of the Icelandic women's national basketball team, and

Guðmundur Bragason Guðmundur Bragason (born 21 April 1967) is a former Icelandic professional basketball player and coach. He spent most of his career with Grindavík in the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild, winning the national championship there in 1996. Icelandic Natio ...

, a former professional basketball player and the highest capped player in the Icelandic men's national basketball team history. His younger brother is basketball player

Ingvi Þór Guðmundsson Ingvi Þór Guðmundsson (born 13 July 1998) is an Icelandic basketball player for Grindavík in the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild karla. Career Ingvi played his first game for the Grindavík senior team at the end of the 2013–2014 season. During t ...

Awards, titles and accomplishments

Individual awards

College

* Atlantic 10 Player of the Year :2019 *First-team All-

: 2019

National teams

*U-18 Nordic Championship MVP: 2014 *FIBA Europe U-20 Championship Division B All-Tournament Team: 2016

Titles

Iceland

* Icelandic league champion (2): 2012, 2013 * Icelandic Supercup (2): 2012, 2013 * Icelandic Basketball Cup: 2014 * Icelandic Company Cup: 2011

College

champion:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

References

External links

Icelandic statisticsDavidson Wildcats bioRealGM profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gudmundsson, Jon Axel 1996 births Living people Crailsheim Merlins players Davidson Wildcats men's basketball players Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna players Jon Axel Gudmundsson Jon Axel Gudmundsson Jon Axel Gudmundsson Jon Axel Gudmundsson Lega Basket Serie A players People from Grindavík Point guards Skyliners Frankfurt players Jon Axel Gudmundsson