Matisse Vincent Thybulle ( ; born March 4, 1997) is an Australian-American 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 the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

of the

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 S ...

(NBA). He was selected in the first round of 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 ...

with the 20th overall pick. He was named to the

NBA All-Defensive Second Team The NBA All-Defensive Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1968–69 NBA season to the best defensive players during the regular season. The All-Defensive Team is generally composed of ten players in two ...

in 2021 and 2022. Thybulle 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

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac- ...

. As a senior in 2019, he was recognized as the top defender in the nation with the

Naismith Defensive Player of the Year The Naismith College Defensive Player of the Year Award is an annual basketball award given to the most outstanding defensive player in men's and women's college basketball. It has been awarded by the Atlanta Tipoff Club since 2018. It is named in ...

and the

Lefty Driesell Award The Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding men's college basketball defender in NCAA Division I competition. The award was established in 2010 and is named for head coach Lefty Driesel ...

. Thybulle also earned first-team all-conference honors in the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

, and repeated as the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. Thybulle is a dual American-Australian citizen and spent around seven years of his childhood in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. He was a member of the Australian national team at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in Tokyo.

Early life

Thybulle was born in

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...

, the son of Greg, a Haitian-born engineer raised in the

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

neighborhood of New York, and Dr. Elizabeth Thybulle, a naturopath who died of leukemia in 2015. He was named after French artist

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

. When he was two, his family moved to

, Australia, where they lived for around seven years. The Thybulle family lived in Sydney's North Shore while in Australia and the children attended elementary school at

North Sydney Demonstration School North Sydney Demonstration School (NSDS) is a primary school located in Waverton, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of only three demonstration schools in New South Wales. Overview Structured education levels provided at "North Sydney D ...

. Matisse did not play much basketball in Australia and focused more on swimming while there, where he said lifeguards "were a really big deal". His family returned to the U.S. in 2005 and settled in

Sammamish, Washington Sammamish ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 67,455 at the 2020 census. Located on a plateau, the city is bordered by Lake Sammamish to the west and the Snoqualmie Valley to the east. Sammamish is a resi ...

, a suburb east of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. Thybulle could not make

layup A layup in basketball is a two-point shot attempt made by leaping from below, laying the ball up near the basket, and using one hand to bounce it off the backboard and into the basket. The motion and one-handed reach distinguish it from a Jump sh ...

s consistently until around the eighth grade, when his coordination began matching his speed. He attended Skyline High School for two years, then transferred to nearby Eastside Catholic, where he was ranked a four-star recruit by

Scout.com Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...

and three-star by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, and graduated in 2015.

College career

Thybulle chose to attend the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

in Seattle based on his relationship with

Huskies Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that mai ...

coach

Lorenzo Romar Lorenzo Romar (born November 13, 1958) is an American basketball coach and former player. He is the head men's basketball coach at Pepperdine University, a position he held from 1996 to 1999 and resumed in 2018. Romar also served as the head me ...

. He started all 34 games as a true freshman in 2015–16, averaging 6.2 points, 3.2

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

, and 1.6 assists in 24.1 minutes per game. As a sophomore in 2016–17, he averaged 10.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.1 steals, but the Huskies won only two games in conference and were in Romar's fifteenth season at Washington, and he was fired. Thybulle considered leaving the program after his coach left. However, he decided to return for 2017–18 after meeting with new coach Mike Hopkins. The former 22-year

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

assistant under

Jim Boeheim James Arthur Boeheim Jr. ( ; born November 17, 1944) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach of the Syracuse Orange men's team of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Boeheim has guided the Orange to ten Big East Conference ...

sold him on the Orange's acclaimed

2–3 zone defense The 2–3 zone defense is a defensive strategy used in basketball as an alternative to man-to-man defense. It is referred to as the 2–3 because of its formation on the court, which consists of two players at the front of the defense (closer to ...

that he planned to install at Washington. On February 17, Thybulle scored a career-high 26 points in an 82–59 win over

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. Possessing a

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

, he was instrumental to the Huskies' zone defense, which was a key to the team's first 20-win season since 2011–12. He was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first player in school history to receive the honor. Thybulle averaged a career-high 11.2 points per game, set a Huskies single-season record with 101 steals, and led Washington with a team-leading 49 blocks. He became the second player in Pac-12 history with at least 90 steals and 40 blocks in the same season, joining

Jeff Trepagnier Jeffery Trepagnier (born July 11, 1979) is a former American professional basketball player. High school Trepagnier played basketball at Compton High School, in Compton, California. College career Trepagnier played college basketball for the US ...

(

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

, 1999–2000). Matisse Thybulle

In 2018–19, Thybulle had 17 points, six steals and five blocks in a 64–55 home win over

to help the Huskies clinch a share of the Pac-12 regular season title. Including a win earlier in the week against

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 ...

, he averaged 13.5 points, 6.0 steals, 4.5 blocks and 5.0 rebounds to earn Pac-12 Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career. Thybulle won the

and

as the top defensive player in the nation. He was also named first-team All-Pac-12, and became the second player in conference history to repeat as Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. He led all

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

players with 126 steals, which also broke the Pac-12 single-season record held previously by

Jason Kidd Jason Frederick Kidd (born March 23, 1973) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Regarded as one of the greatest point guards ...

. Thybulle also ranked eighth nationally with 83 blocks, becoming the only player in the past two decades to record at least 100 steals and 80 blocks. With averages of 3.5 steals and 2.3 blocks per game, he was one of three players in the last 20 years to average at least 2.0 steals and 2.0 blocks in a season. Thybulle also passed

Gary Payton Gary Dwayne Payton Sr. (born July 23, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who played the point guard position. Widely considered one of the greatest point guards of all time, he is best known for his 13-year tenure with t ...

to become the conference leader in career steals with 331, and was the first in Pac-12 history with two 100-steal seasons. He also tied Washington's career blocks record of 186 held by

Chris Welp Christian Ansgar Welp (January 2, 1964 – March 1, 2015) was a German professional basketball player. During his playing career, he was a , center. He played three seasons in the NBA. He was the MVP of the 1993 EuroBasket. College career We ...

, and he is the only player in Huskies history ranked in the top 10 in both career steals and blocks.

Professional career

Philadelphia 76ers (2019–present)

The

targeted Thybulle leading up to the

. They were coming off a second-round playoff loss to the eventual NBA champions, the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

, and were seeking someone who could immediately contribute to their goal of a championship. The 76ers had Thybulle stop working out for others teams, promising in exchange to select him in the first round with their No. 24 overall pick. They effectively ended up moving up to No. 20 to select him, receiving his draft rights from the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

in a trade for Philadelphia's 24th and 33rd picks. On July 3, 2019, Thybulle signed with the 76ers. On October 23, he made his debut in NBA, coming off from bench in a 107–93 win over the Celtics with three points, a rebound, an assist, two steals and two blocks. After scoring 20 points, hitting five three-pointers, and making three steals in a win over the Raptors on December 8, he joined

Allen Iverson Allen Ezail Iverson (; born June 7, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "the Answer", he played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) at both the shooting guard and point guard positions. Iver ...

as the only Sixers rookies to record five threes and three steals in a game since 1983. On July 11, 2020, Thybulle started uploading a series of vlog style

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

videos showcasing the

2020 NBA Bubble The 2020 NBA Bubble, also referred to as the Disney Bubble or the Orlando Bubble, was the bio-secure bubble at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, that was created by the National Basketball Association (NBA) to protect its play ...

at the

ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex The ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is a multi-purpose sports complex located in the Walt Disney World Resort, in Bay Lake, Florida, United States, near Orlando. The complex includes nine venues and hosts numerous professional and amateur s ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. In his second season in

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 ...

, Thybulle was named to the

, though he only averaged 20 minutes per game. He was the NBA leader with 3.8 steals per 100 possessions as well as 5.6 deflections per 36 minutes. On October 29th, 2021, the 76ers picked up Thybulle's team option, extending his contract through the 2022–23 season.

National team career

Thybulle is a dual citizen of Australia as well as the United States and is therefore eligible to represent either national team. When asked if he would represent the

Australian Boomers The Australian men's national basketball team, known as the Boomers after the slang term for a male kangaroo, represents Australia in international basketball competition. Since the late 1980s, Australia has been placed among the world elite t ...

at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, Thybulle said he was proud of his Australian roots but would not presume he would earn automatic selection. On February 3, 2021, Thybulle was named as part of the

squad for the delayed

, which began immediately after the

2021 NBA Finals The 2021 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2020–21 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. In this best-of-seven playoff series, the Eastern Conference champion Milwaukee Bucks d ...

. Thybulle helped Australia to obtain their first ever Olympic medal in men's basketball, beating Slovenia in the bronze medal game.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, 65 , , 14 , , 19.8 , , .423 , , .357 , , .610 , , 1.6 , , 1.2 , , 1.4 , , .7 , , 4.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 65 , , 8 , , 20.0 , , .420 , , .301 , , .444 , , 1.9 , , 1.0 , , 1.6 , , 1.1 , , 3.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 66 , , 50 , , 25.5 , , .500 , , .313 , , .791 , , 2.3 , , 1.1 , , 1.7 , , 1.1 , , 5.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 196 , , 72 , , 21.8 , , .450 , , .324 , , .657 , , 1.9 , , 1.1 , , 1.6 , , 1.0 , , 4.8

Playoffs

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2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

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, 4 , , 1 , , 18.8 , , .429 , , .250 , , — , , 1.8 , , .5 , , .8 , , .3 , , 1.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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

, 12 , , 1 , , 18.3 , , .481 , , .324 , , .400 , , 1.4 , , .3 , , 1.3 , , .9 , , 5.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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

, 9 , , 0 , , 15.2 , , .458 , , .286 , , .333 , , 1.0 , , .4 , , .8 , , .8 , , 3.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 25 , , 2 , , 17.3 , , .470 , , .308 , , .375 , , 1.3 , , .4 , , 1.0 , , .8 , , 3.9

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , 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 on ...

, 34 , , 34 , , 24.1 , , .397 , , .366 , , .714 , , 3.2 , , 1.6 , , 1.1 , , .9 , , 6.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , 29.9 , , .448 , , .405 , , .841 , , 3.1 , , 1.8 , , 2.1 , , .7 , , 10.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 33 , , 32.3 , , .445 , , .365 , , .714 , , 2.9 , , 2.6 , , 3.0 , , 1.4 , , 11.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 36 , , 31.1 , , .415 , , .305 , , .851 , , 3.1 , , 2.1 , , style="background:#cfecec;", 3.5* , , 2.3 , , 9.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 135 , , 134 , , 29.4 , , .429 , , .358 , , .782 , , 3.1 , , 2.0 , , 2.4 , , 1.4 , , 9.2

Personal life

Thybulle is

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, having been

confirmed In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...

as a child. On April 10, 2022, it went public that Thybulle was not fully vaccinated for COVID-19. This made him ineligible to play in Canada during the 76ers opening round of the NBA playoffs against the Toronto Raptors. “Yeah, I’m not fully vaccinated,” he told The Athletic’s Rich Hofmann. “This was a decision I made a long time ago. I thought a lot about what I would say here. Essentially I made this choice and I thought I can keep it to myself, I can keep it private, but people are always going to wonder why.” Thybulle, who said that he was brought up in a "holistic household" with "Chinese medicine and naturopathic doctors" did say that he had received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine but did not continue on for the following shot.

Notes

References

External links

*
Washington Huskies bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thybulle, Matisse 1997 births Living people African-American Catholics American emigrants to Australia American men's basketball players American sportspeople of Haitian descent Australian men's basketball players Australian people of Haitian descent Australian people of African-American descent Basketball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Scottsdale, Arizona Basketball players from Washington (state) Boston Celtics draft picks Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics National Basketball Association players from Australia Olympic basketball players of Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in basketball People from Issaquah, Washington Philadelphia 76ers players Shooting guards Small forwards Sportspeople from King County, Washington Washington Huskies men's basketball players

Early life

College career

Professional career

Philadelphia 76ers (2019–present)

National team career

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

Playoffs

College

Personal life

See also

Notes

References

External links