EA7 Emporio Armani Milan has confirmed the signing of Alex Poythress, who has penned a one-year contract at the Italian club. Poythress (2.06 meters, 29 years old) joins Milan from Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, where last season he averaged 7.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and a 7.4 PIR in 16 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague games. It was an injury-hit campaign for the American big man, as he missed Rounds 12 through 34 with a hand injury before returning to action in the playoffs. Milan is Poythress's third club in his EuroLeague career.
Alex Poythress completes move to Milan
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Alex Poythress's time in the EuroLeague so far
Since making his EuroLeague debut with Zenit St. Petersburg in the 2020-21 season, Poythress has shown fans just why he was such a highly touted recruit coming out of high school. In his rookie EuroLeague season, Poythress averaged 8.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and an 8.8 PIR as Zenit reached the playoffs for the first time. That year, he played 32 games and was named as a starter on seven occasions.
The following campaign saw Poythress post 7.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and a 9.8 PIR in 23 games, with five starts, before Russia's invasion of Ukraine resulted in Zenit being withdrawn from the EuroLeague. Last summer, he made the move to Maccabi and was showing positive signs as a starter in the first 11 games, posting 8.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.1 assists and an 8.0 PIR. His numbers were not bad in the playoffs following his lengthy absence, as he averaged 7.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and a 6.0 PIR in 14:22 minutes on the floor.
His journey to the EuroLeague
Poythress has played in the EuroLeague since 2020, but his first European experience came in the BKT EuroCup with Galatasaray Istanbul in the 2019-20 season, as he averaged 13.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists and a 14.3 PIR in seven games. Before that, Poythress had spent almost his entire career in the United States. He made his professional debut with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in the G League in 2016-17 but saw out the final part of that campaign with the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA.
In the 2017-18 season he signed a two-way contract with NBA franchise the Indiana Pacers, which saw him also feature in the G League with Fort Wayne. The following summer, Poythress agreed to another two-year deal, this time with the Atlanta Hawks and its G League affiliate, the Erie BayHawks. In August 2019 he joined Chinese side the Jilin Northeast Tigers, but four months later he moved to Galatasaray and began his European adventure.