Niels Giffey (born 8 June 1991) is a German 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 Bayern Munich of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) and the EuroLeague. Standing at , he plays the

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronger t ...

and

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

positions. He also represents the Germany national team. He played collegiately for the University of Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team. In his freshman year, he was part of the team that won the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. He was again one of UConn's key players when they won the NCAA tournament for a second time in four years in 2014. Giffey and his UConn teammates

Shabazz Napier Shabazz Bozie Napier (born July 14, 1991) is a Puerto Rican professional basketball player for Olimpia Milano of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and the EuroLeague. He was drafted 24th overall by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2014 NBA dr ...

and Tyler Olander are the only Division I men's basketball players in history to have won national championships as freshmen and seniors.

Early life

Giffey was born on 9 June 1991 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. He is the son of Frank and Christine Giffey. He attended Heinrich-Schliemann-Oberschule gymnasium and competed for the club team Alba Berlin.

College career

Giffey committed to play basketball at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

under coach

Jim Calhoun James A. Calhoun (born May 10, 1942) is a longtime college basketball coach. He is best known for his tenure as head coach of the University of Connecticut (UConn) men's basketball team. His teams won three NCAA national championships ( 1999, ...

. As a freshman, he was a reserve on the squad which won the 2011 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. After winning the tournament, he said, “It was such an emotional time for me, that this university, this team, became such a big part of my heart and became so close to me that it never crossed my mind to leave this place. I always felt it was about being a student-athlete at UConn. This school gave me so much when I won my national championship with this team.” Giffey scored four points and grabbed six rebounds in the

championship game In sport, a championship is a Competition#Sports, competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match sy ...

against

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...

. On the season, he averaged 2.2 points and 1.4 rebounds in 9.9 minutes per game. As a sophomore, Giffey averaged 2.6 points and 1.5 rebounds per game. He missed the first game of the season after hyper extending his elbow in the preseason. As a junior, he averaged 4.9 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. He injured his knee in a game against

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

on 3 March 2013 and missed the remainder of the season. In the semifinal game of the 2014 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament Giffey scored a career-high 24 points, including six three-pointers, to help Connecticut defeat

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

72–53 on 14 March 2014.

Professional career

Following graduation, Giffey played on the 2014

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...

summer league team and then 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 (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

summer league team. On 15 July 2014, the German team Alba Berlin announced that they had signed him for three seasons. On 29 July 2019, Giffey extended his contract with Alba for two more seasons, until 2022. Serving as the Berlin team captain, Giffey won the German national championship as well as the German Cup competition in 2020. During the 2020–21 season, he averaged 8 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. On 18 June 2021, Giffey signed with Žalgiris Kaunas of the

Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

(LKL). On 17 June 2022, he parted ways with the club. On 11 October 2022, Giffey signed a short-term deal with

UCAM Murcia UCAM Universidad Católica de Murcia Club de Baloncesto, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as UCAM Murcia, is a professional basketball team based in Murcia, Spain. It plays their home games at Palacio de Deportes. History Founded in 1985 u ...

of the Liga ACB. On 8 November 2022, Giffey signed with Bayern Munich of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) until the end of the 2024–2025 season.

Honours and titles

Team

;Alba Berlin *2x Basketball Bundesliga: 2019–20,

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 ...

*2×

BBL-Pokal Basketball Bundesliga-Pokal, commonly known as the BBL-Pokal, is the annual national basketball cup competition in Germany. Since 2009, the title has been awarded to the winner of a tournament competition between top clubs of each Basketball Bunde ...

: 2016,

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- ...

German Supercup German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: 2014 ;UCONN * 2× NCAA champion:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, 2014

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=3, Alba Berlin , 24 , , 15 , , 15.2 , , .443 , , .396 , , .400 , , 2.3 , , .2 , , .5 , , .1 , , 4.9 , , 2.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , 28 , , 8 , , 18.8 , , .486 , , .478 , , .851 , , 2.2 , , 1.2 , , .8 , , .3 , , 8.8 , , 7.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

, 24 , , 5 , , 20.0 , , .487 , , .418 , , .792 , , 2.9 , , 1.4 , , .8 , , .4 , , 8.1 , , 8.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;", Žalgiris Kaunas , 28 , , 5 , , 16.3 , , .430 , , .345 , , .882 , , 2.7 , , .8 , , .6 , , .1 , , 5.6 , , 5.1 , - class="sortbottom" , colspan=2 style="text-align:center;", Career , 104 , , 33 , , 17.6, , .466 , , .412 , , .809 , , 2.5 , , .9 , , .7 , , .2 , , 6.9 , , 5.9