Eric Yamoah Boateng (born 20 November 1985) is a British 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. He is a former

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 ...

player with the

Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball The Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball team is the basketball team that represents Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, United States. The school's team currently competes in the Pac-12 Conference. The Arizona State Sun Devils have ...

team. He attended high school at St. Andrew's School in

Middletown, Delaware Middletown is a town in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the town is 18,871. Geography and climate Middletown is located at (39.4495560, –75.7163207) with an elevation of . According t ...

. Boateng committed to

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

out of high school, but transferred after one season to Arizona State. He is also a member of the senior men's

Great Britain national basketball team The Great Britain men's national basketball team (also known as GB Basketball or GB) represents Great Britain in international basketball competitions. The national team is administered by British Basketball. The current governing body for th ...

. In November 2014, he was elected to a four-year term on the

British Olympic Association The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It is responsible for organising and overseeing the participation of athletes from the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team, at both ...

's Athletes' Commission. He was reelected to the Commission in November 2018.

High school career

Eric Boateng attended Ernest Bevin College in Tooting, South London, between 1997 and 2002, he later attended high school at St. Andrew's School in

, where he averaged 19.6 points, 13.6 rebounds and 4.6 blocked shots a game. Boateng was named Delaware high school player of the year by the Delaware Sportswriters & Broadcasters Association, and earned national recognition that included Gatorade State Player of the Year, 4th Team, and garnering the ranking of the 3rd best

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

for the 2005 recruiting class, behind only

Andrew Bynum Andrew Bynum (born October 27, 1987) is an American former professional basketball player. He played the majority of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After they selected him in the first roun ...

and

Amir Johnson Amir Jalla Johnson (born May 1, 1987) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the NBA G League Ignite of the NBA G League. He has previously played for the Detroit Pistons, the team that selected Johnson in the second rou ...

. Boateng received scholarship offers from

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

, Georgetown,

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, Villanova, and

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

. He eventually committed to attend Duke.

McDonald's All American Game

After his high school career, Boateng was added to the

2005 McDonald's All-American Boys Game The 2005 McDonald's All-American Boys Game was an All-star basketball game played on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 at the Joyce Center in South Bend, Indiana, home of the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. The game's rosters featured the best and most h ...

roster. Boateng played for the East squad, for whom he grabbed 6 rebounds, and had an assist, in 10 minutes.

College career

Boateng played four years of

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

's Division I basketball between 2005 and 2010. After spending his first year at

, Boateng transferred to

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. Due to NCAA rules, Boateng was forced to sit out a year before playing his final 3 seasons. As a senior, Boateng scored a career-high 24 points on 11-of-11 shooting against

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 ...

on 25 February 2010, tying school and Pac-10 records for highest field-goal percentage in a conference game, minimum of 10 shots taken. Boateng added six rebounds and three assists. "He wouldn't let us lose," ASU coach Herb Sendek said. "I'm so happy for him, because he's had an uphill climb to be in this place, to enjoy this moment."

College statistics

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2010 NBA draft The 2010 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2010, at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The draft, which started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National ...

, Boateng joined the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

for the 2010

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

, where he averaged 3.6 points per game and 3.2 rebounds per game. His performances impressed the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

, who signed him to play in their pre-season squad. Through 5 games with the Nuggets, Boateng averaged 1.6 points per game and 4.2 rebounds per game, including a career high 10 rebounds in a win against the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

. He was the last player cut by the Nuggets before the start of the 2010–11 NBA season. Boateng was selected by the

Idaho Stampede Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

in the 2010

NBA D-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 Dev ...

draft. On 2 February 2011, Boateng was traded to the

Austin Toros Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, in a three team trade. He made his debut for the team on 3 February, playing 11 minutes against the

Fort Wayne Mad Ants The Fort Wayne Mad Ants are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and are affiliated with the Indiana Pacers. The team plays their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The M ...

. In November 2011, Boateng signed with the

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 ...

team

Peristeri Peristeri (Greek language, Greek: Περιστέρι, meaning "pigeon/dove" in Greek) is a suburban municipality in the western part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. With 139,981 inhabitants (2011 census), it is the seventh-largest municipali ...

. Boateng was sidelined in January 2012 with a calf injury. In 2012, he joined

Phantoms Braunschweig Phantom may refer to: * Spirit (animating force), the vital principle or animating force within all living things ** Ghost, the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear to the living Aircraft * Boeing Phantom Ray, a stealthy un ...

of the

BBL A barrel is one of several units of volume applied in various contexts; there are dry barrels, fluid barrels (such as the U.K. beer barrel and U.S. beer barrel), oil barrels, and so forth. For historical reasons the volumes of some barrel units ...

for the 2012–13 season. On 25 September 2013, Boateng signed with the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

. However, he was waived on 9 October. In late October 2013, he joined La Unión (Formosa) of the LNB. On 21 June 2015, he signed to play with ADA Blois Basket 41 in Blois. In August 2017, Boateng signed with Saint-Vallier Basket Drôme of the NM1 (French third division).

International career

Boateng made his debut for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

in 2006, maintaining his place in the squad ever since. Boateng began 2011 in great form, winning the MVP of the tri-test series with the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. He followed this up with some solid performances in the London Prepares Olympic test event, averaging almost 6 points per game against world class opposition. Boateng was then selected to be part of the British national team that competed in the 2011 EuroBasket championship in Lithuania. His best game came at EuroBasket 2011 was a career-high 7 rebounds and 4 points, in 25 minutes against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

References

External links

NBA.com ProfileEurobasket.com ProfileGreek Basket League ProfileGerman League profileESPN.com College StatsPhoto Gallery: Eric Boateng, High School Basketball Star
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boateng, Eric 1985 births Living people ADA Blois Basket 41 players Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball players Austin Toros players Basketball Löwen Braunschweig players Basketball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Greater London Black British sportsmen British expatriate basketball people British expatriate basketball people in France British expatriate basketball people in Germany British expatriate basketball people in the United States English expatriate sportspeople in Argentina British men's basketball players Centers (basketball) Duke Blue Devils men's basketball players Élan Béarnais players English men's basketball players English people of Ghanaian descent FC Mulhouse Basket players Greek Basket League players Idaho Stampede players La Unión basketball players McDonald's High School All-Americans Olympic basketball players of Great Britain Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People educated at Ernest Bevin College Peristeri B.C. players Saint-Vallier Basket Drôme players