Preston Demond Knowles (born March 29, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for Aurora Jesi of the Italian

Serie A2 Basket Serie A2, known for sponsorship reasons as Serie A2 Old Wild West, is a men's basketball league in Italy. It constitutes the second-tier of the Italian league pyramid, below the first division LBA and above the third division Serie B, with pro ...

. He formerly played college basketball for the

Louisville Cardinals The Louisville Cardinals (also known as the Cards) are the NCAA athletic teams representing the University of Louisville. The Cardinals teams play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, beginning in the 2014 season. While playing in the Big East Co ...

High school and college career

Knowles attended George Rogers Clark High School in his native

Winchester, Kentucky Winchester is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Clark County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 18,368 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winchester is located ro ...

. He stayed in the state for college, signing with

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

, playing in the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

of the

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 ...

, in 2007. Playing for the Cardinals, he was noted for his work ethic, defense, and three-point shooting, regularly amongst the best in the Conference in shooting percentage from three.

Professional career

Knowles signed a contract with

Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague The Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague (USL) ( uk, Українська баскетбольна суперліга) is the first-tier level of professional basketball league in Ukraine. Established in 1992, the league is currently contested by 10 c ...

side Dnipro-Azot in December 2012, he ended up playing in 3 games in the league before leaving the side that same month. The American then returned home, signing with the

Springfield Armor Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queensl ...

of the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

in January 2012. He finished the 2011–12 season with the Armor, averaging 7.3 points, 1.1 assists and 1.1 steals in nearly 17 minutes per game after playing 31 games. After another stint with Dnipro-Azot in which he didn't play a competitive game, Knowles moved to

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

K.A.O.D. American Genetics in October 2012. He finished the 2012–13 with 12.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists in more than 27 minutes per game after playing in 23 games. In the 2013 summer off-season, Knowles signed a contract to play for

Ironi Nes Ziona Ironi Ness Ziona B.C. (or spelled as Ironi Nes Ziona B.C.) is a professional basketball club based in Ness Ziona, Israel. The team plays its home games at the Lev Hamoshava, which has capacity for 1,200 people. The club plays in the Israeli Bask ...

in the

Israeli Basketball Super League Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional competition in Israeli club basketball, making it Israel's primary basketball co ...

. In August 2014, his deal was extended for another season. In July 2015, Knowles moved to 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-tier le ...

outfit Giorgio Tesi Group Pistoia, signing for the 2015–16 season. The 2016–17 season, Knowles started with

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...

but left the club after appearing in two games. On December 18, 2016, he signed with Israeli club

Maccabi Ashdod Maccabi Ashdod B.C. ( he, מכבי אשדוד) is a professional basketball team based in the port city of Ashdod, Israel. The team currently plays in the Israeli National League. History The team was founded in 1961 by "Maccabi Ashdod Sports ...

. On August 25, 2017, Knowles signed with the Croatian team

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar serv ...

for the 2017–18 season. He averaged 14.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. On July 17, 2018, Knowles signed with the Italian second division squad

Derthona Basket Derthona Basket, known for sponsorship reasons as Bertram Derthona Tortona, is an Italian professional basketball team of the city of Tortona, in the province of Alessandria, Piedmont. The team has achieved the promotion to the Lega Basket Ser ...

. In January 2019, Knowles moved to another

club, Aurora Jesi.

References

External links

FIBA game center profile
Retrieved 31 July 2015
Israeli Super League profile
Retrieved 31 July 2015
RealGM profile
Retrieved 31 July 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Knowles, Preston 1989 births Living people ABA League players AEK Larnaca B.C. players American expatriate basketball people in Croatia American expatriate basketball people in Cyprus American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Ukraine Basketball players from Kentucky BC Dnipro-Azot players Ironi Nes Ziona B.C. players Israeli Basketball Premier League players K.A.O.D. B.C. players KK Zadar players Louisville Cardinals men's basketball players Maccabi Ashdod B.C. players People from Winchester, Kentucky Pistoia Basket 2000 players Point guards Springfield Armor players American men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Thailand ASEAN Basketball League players Derthona Basket players Mono Vampire players