Thomas Heurtel joins AEK Athens for 12th club spell

Thomas Heurtel will continue his playing career with AEK Athens, taking his career into a 12th club and a first experience in Greece. The 37-year-old French point guard has agreed to join the Athens side and will compete in the Basketball Champions League rather than the EuroLeague, where he spent more than a decade.

Heurtel’s last appearance came on April 19, when he helped ASVEL beat Monaco in the Betclic Élite regular season. He was subsequently left out of the squad after a disagreement with coach Pierric Poupet, and ASVEL announced his departure on June 20. Heurtel averaged 5.1 points and 4.1 assists in the French league last season, while recording 9.2 points and 5.4 in the EuroLeague.

AEK were beaten by Olympiakos in the semi-finals of the most recent Greek championship. Heurtel joins after spells with Pau, Strasbourg, Alicante, Vitoria, Anadolu Efes, Barcelona, ASVEL, Real Madrid, Zenit St Petersburg, Shenzhen and La Coruña. His move to AEK extends a career that began professionally at Pau in 2007.

His two seasons with Zenit, from 2022 to 2024, also affected his international career. He was not selected by France after joining the Russian league under a player charter linked to the invasion of Ukraine. Heurtel won 99 caps, with his last appearance coming in 2022, and never reached the 100-cap mark.