Mikael Jantunen (born 20 April 2000) is a Finnish 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

Paris Basketball Paris Basketball is a French professional basketball club based in Paris. The club currently plays in the LNB Pro A, the first division of basketball in France, and the EuroCup. The club was founded in 2018 by David Kahn and Eric Schwartz. Th ...

of the

LNB Pro A The LNB Pro A, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Betclic Élite, is the top-tier men's professional basketball league in France. The competition has existed since 1921. Since 1987, the Ligue Nationale de Basket has governed the league. ...

and the EuroCup. 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

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The men's basketball team is known as the Runnin' ...

Early life and career

Jantunen grew up in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

and initially played football before switching to basketball at the age of 11. He competed for HBA-Märsky from 2016 to 2019, while attending the Helsinki Basketball Academy. In October 2018, Jantunen committed to

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

over offers from

Loyola Marymount Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near Playa Vista. LMU is the parent school to Loyola Law School, which is located ...

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

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

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

College career

Jantunen started three games as a freshman and averaged 6.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. He suffered a fractured nose in December 2020, forcing him to wear a protective mask. On 9 January 2021, Jantunen scored a career-high 20 points in a 79–73 loss to

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. As a sophomore, Jantunen averaged 8.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game. Following the season, he opted to turn professional.

Professional career

Oostende (2021–2022)

On 23 July 2021, Jantunen signed with

Filou Oostende Basketball Club Oostende, for sponsorship reasons Filou Oostende, is a Belgian professional basketball team. The club is based in Ostend and was founded in 1970. The club competes domestically in the BNXT League and internationally in the Baske ...

of the

BNXT League The BNXT League, for sponsorship reasons the betFirst BNXT League, is a professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is the first tier in both the Dutch and Belgian system, replacing the Dutch Basketball League, DBL a ...

and the

Basketball Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL) is an annual professional basketball competition for European clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the top-level competition organised by FIBA Europe, therefore the champion participates in the FIBA Intercontin ...

. He won the

BNXT League Sixth Man of the Year The BNXT League Sixth Man of the Year award is given annually at the end of the regular season of the BNXT League, the highest professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands, to the player who performs best for his team as a subst ...

award, as well as the Belgian championship with Oostende.

Treviso (2022–2023)

On 14 June 2022, Jantunen was announced by Italian club

Treviso Basket Universo Treviso Basket (diminutive TvB), known for sponsorship reasons as NutriBullet Treviso, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Treviso, Veneto. Founded in 2012, it plays in the Italian basketball first division Lega Basket Se ...

of the

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-tier le ...

(LBA).

Golden State Warriors (2023)

On 28 June 2023, Jantunen was named in 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 ...

squad for the 2023 NBA Summer League. He played in a total of four matches, averaging 7.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in 18.0 min playing time.

Paris Basketball (2023–present)

On 26 July 2023 he signed a two-year deal with

of the

and the EuroCup. Jantunen and Paris became the

LNB Pro A Leaders Cup The LNB Pro A Leaders Cup, or French Basketball League Cup, is the annual national league cup competition for teams from the top-tier level of French professional basketball, the LNB Pro A. It was created in its current form in 2003 (after origi ...

champions in February 2024, by defeating

Nanterre Nanterre (, ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807. The eastern part of Nanterre, bordering t ...

90–85 in the final.

National team career

Jantunen represented Finland in 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 ...

. He averaged 17 points, 10 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game, shooting 72.3 percent from the field. Jantunen played several games for the Finnish senior national team in the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifier round. He was forced to miss time with Utah in February 2021 to play in the matches. Jantunen was part of the Finland squad in the

EuroBasket 2022 The EuroBasket 2022 was the 41st edition of the EuroBasket championship organized by FIBA Europe. It was the first since it was agreed it would take place every four years, with a similar system of qualification as for the FIBA Basketball World C ...

and the

2023 FIBA World Cup The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup will be the 19th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams. The tournament will be the second to feature 32 teams. For the first time in its history, the World Cup will be h ...

Career statistics

EuroCup

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, 18 , , 9 , , 20.4 , , .522 , , .375 , , .867 , , 3.9 , , 1.0 , , .9 , , 0.3 , , 7.5 , , 9.7

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 3 , , 23.2 , , .661 , , .313 , , .733 , , 4.9 , , 1.1 , , .4 , , .3 , , 6.7 , - , 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;",

, 20 , , 20 , , 28.1 , , .600 , , .370 , , .857 , , 4.5 , , 1.5 , , .7 , , .1 , , 8.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 51 , , 23 , , 25.1 , , .631 , , .349 , , .779 , , 4.7 , , 1.2 , , .5 , , .2 , , 7.6

References

External links

Utah Utes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jantunen, Mikael 2000 births Living people 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup players Basketball players from Helsinki BC Oostende players Finnish expatriate basketball people in Italy Finnish expatriate basketball people in the United States Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Finnish men's basketball players Paris Basketball players Power forwards Universo Treviso Basket players Utah Utes men's basketball players HBA-Märsky players