Paul St. Aubyn Atkinson Jr. (born March 27, 1999) is an American professional basketball player who last played for

Kortrijk Spurs The Kortrijk Spurs, for sponsorship reasons known as House of Talents Spurs, are a Belgian professional basketball club based in Kortrijk. As of 2023, the club features 62 teams which makes it the largest basketball club in Belgium. Its first men' ...

of the

BNXT League The 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 and Pro Basketball League, PBL. The inaugural season ...

. He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

player for the

Yale Bulldogs The Yale Bulldogs are the college sports teams that represent Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. The school sponsors 35 varsity sports. The school has won two National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA national championships ...

and

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 26 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

Early life

Atkinson grew up in

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...

and attended the Westminster Academy in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the ...

. As a junior, he led Westminster Academy to the Class 3A state championship game, where they fell to Windermere Prep. Atkinson committed to play college basketball at Yale at the beginning of his senior year after receiving interest from

Dayton Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

UNC-Wilmington The University of North Carolina Wilmington, or University of North Carolina at Wilmington, (UNC Wilmington or UNCW) is a public research university in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system and enrol ...

, and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

. As a senior, Atkinson averaged 20.6 points, 13.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game and was the Sun-Sentinel South Florida Player of the Year. He had 17 points and 12 rebounds in the 3A championship game.

College career

Atkinson was a starter for Yale as a true freshman and averaged 9.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Atkinson was forced to play major minutes due to an injury to Jordan Bruner, and Yale coach James Jones praised Atkinson for his shot selection and accuracy, but wanted more aggressiveness from him. He mostly came off the bench as a sophomore and averaged 9.1 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Prior to his junior season, Atkinson gained 20 pounds and worked on his athleticism. As a junior, Akinson was named the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

Co-Player of the Year alongside Penn's A. J. Brodeur after averaging 17.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game and leading the Ivy League with .630 field goal percentage during the regular season. Following the season, Atkinson declared for the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecticut, wi ...

. Atkinson entered the transfer portal after the 2020–2021 Ivy League season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He chose to transfer to Notre Dame as a graduate transfer after considering offers from Miami (Florida),

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina sy ...

and

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. Atkinson was named Honorable Mention All-ACC. He averaged 12.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game.

Professional career

On July 10, 2022, Atkinson signed with

Atomerőmű SE Atomerőmű SE, sometimes shortened to ASE, is a Hungarian professional basketball team based in Paks. The team plays in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A, the highest professional league in Hungary. The team was founded in 1979 and has won the Hungaria ...

of the

Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A The Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A (, commonly abbreviated NB I/A) is Hungarian basketball league system, the highest level Sports league, league of club men's basketball in Hungary. Format The league comprises 14 teams. A NB I/A season is split into a l ...

. On July 21, 2023, after a whirlwind season with ASE, Atkinson signed with

of the

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

, 31 , , 30 , , 24.2 , , .692 , , – , , .667 , , 4.6 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , .5 , , 9.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 1 , , 20.2 , , .697 , , .000 , , .653 , , 5.0 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , .6 , , 9.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 29 , , 31.8 , , .630 , , .308 , , .671 , , 7.3 , , 1.5 , , 1.2 , , .8 , , 17.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;", Notre Dame , 35 , , 34 , , 27.5 , , .587 , , .000 , , .750 , , 6.9 , , 1.7 , , .7 , , .7 , , 12.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 126 , , 94 , , 26.0 , , .638 , , .250 , , .685 , , 6.0 , , 1.3 , , .7 , , .6 , , 12.1

Personal life

Atkinson's parents, Paul and Laura, met in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, outside of New York City. It is the sixth-most populous city in New England. Stamford is also the largest city in the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Weste ...

, in high school. They moved to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, where Paul Jr. was born, before returning to Stamford and finally moving to West Palm Beach.

References

External links

Notre Dame Fighting Irish bioYale Bulldogs bioReaglGM profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Paul 1999 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in Hungary American men's basketball players Basketball players from Palm Beach County, Florida Kortrijk Spurs players Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball players Power forwards Sportspeople from West Palm Beach, Florida Yale Bulldogs men's basketball players