Joël Ayayi (born 5 March 2000) is a French 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 the Osceola Magic of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

Early life and career

Ayayi was born and raised in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

, France. Growing up, he idolized

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA) player and Bordeaux native

Boris Diaw Boris Babacar Diaw-Riffiod (born April 16, 1982), better known as Boris Diaw, is a French basketball executive and former player who is the president of Metropolitans 92 of LNB Pro A. Diaw began his playing career in Pro A and returned to that l ...

. Ayayi attended

INSEP INSEP, the National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance (Institut national du sport, de l'expertise et de la performance), is a French training institute and center for excellence in sports that trains elite athletes. It is located on th ...

, a sports institute in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, and played for affiliated club Centre Fédéral.

Recruiting

He was considered a four-star

recruit __NOTOC__ Recruit can refer to: Military * Military recruitment * Recruit training, in the military * '' Rekrut'' (English: Recruit), a military recruit or low rank in German-speaking countries * Seaman recruit Books *''Le Réquisitionnaire'' (E ...

Rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

and received

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

offers from Baylor,

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

, and Gonzaga. On 27 April 2017, Ayayi committed to play

for Gonzaga. Source
RivalsScoutESPN
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College career

Ayayi joined the Gonzaga basketball team at age 17 and

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his first season to train with the team. In his redshirt freshman season, he averaged 5.6 minutes per game through 23 contests. On 27 November 2019, early in his sophomore season, Ayayi posted 21 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in a win over

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

. He had 20 points in a 94–50 win over

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

on 9 January 2020. At the conclusion of the regular season, Ayayi was named Honorable Mention All- West Coast Conference (WCC). On 10 March, he helped Gonzaga win the WCC tournament and was named Most Outstanding Player after scoring 17 points in the final against Saint Mary's. He averaged 10.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.2 per game for the Bulldogs and was All-WCC honorable mention. Following the season he declared 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 ...

but did not hire an agent. On 1 August, Ayayi announced he was withdrawing from the draft and returning for his junior season. Coming into his junior season, Ayayi was named to the Preseason All-WCC team. On 9 January 2021, he recorded the first

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 ...

in program history, with 12 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists in a 116–88 win over

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

. He also tallied the second-most assists for a Gonzaga player in a single game. As a junior, he averaged 12 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game and was named to the First Team All- West Coast Conference. Following the season, Ayayi 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 u ...

and forgo his remaining college eligibility.

Professional career

Washington Wizards (2021–2022)

After going undrafted in the

, Ayayi signed a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless of ...

with the Los Angeles Lakers on 3 August 2021. Under the terms of the deal he was to split time between the Lakers and their

affiliate, the

South Bay Lakers The South Bay Lakers are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Los Angeles. Founded in 2006 as the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the team is owned by the Los Angeles Lakers, who were the first National Basketball Associa ...

. On 15 October, he was waived by Los Angeles and two days later, he signed a

with the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

. Ayayi was then later waived on 8 March 2022.

Capital City Go-Go (2022)

On March 11, 2022, Ayayi was reacquired by the

Capital City Go-Go The Capital City Go-Go is an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Washington, D.C., and are affiliated with the Washington Wizards. The Go-Go play their home games at the St. Elizabeths East Entertainment and Sports ...

. Ayayi joined the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

for the

2022 NBA Summer League The 2022 NBA Summer League, also branded as the NBA 2K23 Summer League 2022, was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campu ...

Lakeland Magic (2022–present)

On November 3, 2022, Ayayi was named to the opening night roster for the

Lakeland Magic The Lakeland Magic are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Lakeland, Florida, and are affiliated with the Orlando Magic. The Magic began play in the 2017–18 season and play their home games at the RP Fundi ...

National team career

Ayayi holds

dual citizenship Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on ...

to France and his parents' home country of

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

, but he plays basketball for the French national teams. At the

2016 FIBA U16 European Championship The 2016 FIBA U16 European Championship was the 30th edition of the European Under-16 Basketball Championship. Sixteen teams participated in the competition, held in Radom, Poland, from 12 to 20 August 2016. Bosnia and Herzegovina, the defending ...

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been the seat of a separate Radom Voivodeship (1975� ...

, Poland, he averaged 11.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game for France. Ayayi led his team to a bronze medal at the

2018 FIBA U18 European Championship The 2018 FIBA U18 European Championship was the 35th edition of the FIBA U18 European Championship. The competition took place in Riga, Ventspils and Liepāja, Latvia, from 28 July to 5 August 2018. Participating teams * * (Winners, 2017 FIBA ...

in Latvia. After averaging 15.7 points per game, he was named to the All-Star Five. Ayayi helped France win bronze at the 2019 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup in

Heraklion Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban Ar ...

, Greece, where he earned All-Star Five honors. He averaged 20.9 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game and led all scorers with 33 points in a

bronze medal game Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

against Lithuania.

Career statistics

NBA

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, 7 , , 0 , , 2.9 , , .167 , , .000 , , , , .4 , , .6 , , .0 , , .0 , , .3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 7 , , 0 , , 2.9 , , .167 , , .000 , , , , .4 , , .6 , , .0 , , .0 , , .3

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;", Gonzaga , style="text-align:center;" colspan="11",

Redshirt , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Gonzaga , 23 , , 0 , , 5.6 , , .531 , , .273 , , .286 , , 1.4 , , .5 , , .3 , , 0 , , 1.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Gonzaga , 33 , , 23 , , 29.3 , , .483 , , .345 , , .825 , , 6.3 , , 3.2 , , 1.3 , , .2 , , 10.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;", Gonzaga , 32 , , 31 , , 31.3 , , .575 , , .389 , , .781 , , 6.9 , , 2.7 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 12.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 88 , , 54 , , 23.8 , , .529 , , .360 , , .776 , , 5.2 , , 2.3 , , .9 , , .2 , , 8.8

Personal life

Both of Ayayi's parents are from Benin. His father stands and played basketball professionally in France and for the Beninese national team. Ayayi's older sister Valériane has played for the French women's national team, most notably at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and in the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA). His younger brother Gérald plays professional basketball in France.

References

External links

Gonzaga Bulldogs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayayi, Joel 2000 births Living people Black French sportspeople Capital City Go-Go players Centre Fédéral de Basket-ball players French expatriate basketball people in the United States French men's basketball players French sportspeople of Beninese descent Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball players Lakeland Magic players National Basketball Association players from France Shooting guards Sportspeople from Bordeaux Undrafted National Basketball Association players Washington Wizards players