Yannick Ayrton Franke (born May 21, 1996) is a Dutch 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 PAOK Thessaloniki of 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 ...

. He also represents the

Netherlands national basketball team The Netherlands men's national basketball team ( nl, Het Nederlands nationaal basketbalteam) represents the Netherlands in international basketball matches. The national team is governed by Basketball Nederland. The Dutch have reached the Euro ...

in international competition. Franke mainly plays at the

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 ...

position and occasionally as a

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

Professional career

Franke started his professional career with the Dutch powerhouse

ZZ Leiden ZZ Leiden Basketball, also known as Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden, is a basketball club based in Leiden, Netherlands. The club plays in the BNXT League, the domestic first tier league. Their home games are played at Vijf Meihal, which has 2,000 seats. ...

in the 2013–14 season. In December he transferred to lower-ranked

Challenge Sports Rotterdam Feyenoord Basketball, for sponsorship reasons known as Zeeuw & Zeeuw Feyenoord Basketball, is a Dutch professional basketball club based in Rotterdam. The team plays in the BNXT League and plays its home games at the Topsportcentrum next to De K ...

, where he could get more playing time. In the 2014–15 season, Franke had a break-out year. He was the youngest scoring champion in the history of the Dutch DBL, after he recorded 19.6 points per game at age 19. He also won the

DBL MVP Under 23 The Dutch Basketball League (DBL) Most Valuable Player Under 23 is an award that is yearly given to the best player under age 23 in the DBL, the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau ...

and

DBL Most Improved Player The Dutch Basketball League Most Improved Player is an award that is yearly given to the most improved player in the DBL, the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = ...

Awards. For the 2015–16 season, Franke signed with

Donar Groningen Donar, also known as Donar Groningen, is a professional basketball club based in Groningen, Netherlands. The club competes in the BNXT League and its home arena is MartiniPlaza, which has a seating capacity of 4,350 people. Donar is one o ...

. On 15 February 2016, Franke left Donar. On February 29, 2016, he signed for the remainder of the season with

Bisons Loimaa LoKoKo Bisons Loimaa is a Finnish professional basketball club that is based in Loimaa. History The club was established in 1964 as Loimaan Korikonkarit. The team was renamed Bisons after it was promoted to the Korisliiga in 2011. The team won ...

in Finland. On September 20, 2016, Franke signed with Promitheas Patras in Greece, but left the team without appearing in a single game. On October 16, 2016, he signed a three-year contract with

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...

in Greece, but was released on November 25, without appearing in an official game of the team. On January 11, 2017, he signed with Croatian club

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 ...

. On March 31, 2017, he left Zadar after averaging 6 points and 2 rebounds per game in the

ABA League The ABA League, renamed to the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the 1st-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Mace ...

. On August 11, 2017, Franke signed a two-year deal with Italian club

Aquila Basket Trento Aquila Basket Trento, also known for sponsorship reasons as Dolomiti Energia Trento, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Trento, Trent, Trentino. It was founded in 1995 as an amalgamation of two local clubs, going from the amateur ...

. In the

2017–18 LBA season The 2017–18 Lega Basket Serie A, was the 96th season of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), known for sponsorship reasons as the Serie A PosteMobile, which is highest-tier level professional basketball league in Italy. The regular season started on ...

, Franke reached the finals with Trento, where it lost to

Olimpia Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

. In October 2018, Franke signed with

Pieno žvaigždės Pieno žvaigždės is one of the biggest dairy products companies group in Lithuania, uniting Mažeikiai dairy, Kaunas dairy, Pasvalys Pasvalys () is a town in Panevėžys County, Lithuania, located near the bank of the Svalia River. Histo ...

of the Lithuanian LKL. On July 12, 2019, Franke signed a one-year contract with

Hamburg Towers Hamburg Towers, for sponsorship reasons named Veolia Towers Hamburg, is a professional basketball team, based in Hamburg, Germany. The Towers are currently playing in the Basketball Bundesliga, after promoting from the ProA in 2019. Founded in 2 ...

of the German

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the highest level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 18 teams. A BBL season ...

(BBL). On August 8, 2020, Franke signed with

SLUC Nancy Stade Lorrain Université Club Nancy Basket, commonly referred to as SLUC Nancy Basket, is a French professional basketball club based in Nancy. The club currently competes in the LNB Pro A, the top league in France, and holds two league titles. S ...

of the French

LNB Pro B The LNB Pro B, commonly known as Pro B, is the French basketball league system, 2nd-tier level men's professional basketball league in France. It is the second division of the Ligue Nationale de Basket (LNB), which has organized the league since t ...

. On December 17, 2020, Franke signed with

Start Lublin Start Lublin, more commonly known as Polski Cukier Pszczółka Start Lublin because of sponsporship reasons, is a Polish basketball club based in Lublin. The team plays in the Polish Basketball League (PLK) since 2014. Its home arena is the Globus ...

. On August 2, 2021, he signed with

Trefl Sopot Trefl Sopot is a Polish professional basketball team, based in Sopot, Poland. The team plays in the Dominet Bank Ekstraliga, Polish Tauron Basket Liga. The club was founded as the replacement of Asseco Gdynia, Prokom Asseco Sopot that left the ci ...

of the

Polish Basketball League Polska Liga Koszykówki (PLK) (English language, English: Polish Basketball League) is a professional men's club basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Poland. It constitutes the first and highest-tier level of the Polish basketball leag ...

. On March 2, 2022, he signed with MoraBanc Andorra of the

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

. On July 11, 2022, Franke signed with PAOK of the

and the

Basketball Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL) is an annual professional basketball competition for European clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the top-level competition organised by FIBA Europe, therefore the champion participates in the FIBA Intercontin ...

International career

Franke made his debut for the

Dutch national basketball team The Netherlands men's national basketball team ( nl, Het Nederlands nationaal basketbalteam) represents the Netherlands in international basketball matches. The national team is governed by Basketball Nederland. The Dutch have reached the Eur ...

on 31 July 2015 in a 55–59 loss against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Franke was a member of the Dutch team that played at

EuroBasket 2015 EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 Sept ...

, where the team had a 1–4 record. Franke played in one game, a 72–78 loss against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, and he scored 3 points in the match.

Family

Franke comes from a much-lauded basketball family. Father Rolf Franke was eight times Dutch basketball champion in the 1990s, played 60 international matches for the Netherlands and was the coach of ZZ Leiden from 2018 to 2020. Grandfather Wim Franke was regarded as one of the best basketball players in the country in the 1960s and made 47 international appearances.

Honours

Individual

DBL All-Rookie Team The DBL All-Rookie Team is a team constituted by the best rookies in a season of the Dutch Basketball League The Dutch Basketball League (DBL), formerly the Eredivisie, was the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands, run by th ...

: 2014–15 *

DBL All-Star The Dutch Basketball League All-Star Gala was a yearly basketball event in the Netherlands, organised by the Federatie Eredivisie Basketball (FEB). During the event the yearly All-Star Game was played, which included the best players of a given DB ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

DBL scoring champion In basketball, points are the sum of the score accumulated through free throws or field goals. The Dutch Basketball League's (DBL) scoring title is awarded to the player with the highest points per game average in a given season. Scoring leaders ...

: 2014–15 * All Imports team LKL Lithuanian 2018-19 *

All German BBL Honorable mention 2019-20 All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All al ...

References

External links