The Frenchman has left Real Madrid after three years in the Spanish capital
Efes picks up high-flying center Vincent Poirier
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Anadolu Efes Istanbul has completed the signing of center Vincent Poirier on a three-year deal, the club confirmed on Tuesday.
Poirier (2.13 meters, 30 years old) backed up Walter Tavares at Real Madrid over the last three seasons, averaging 9.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.5 blocks – the second-best mark of any player – and a 13.4 PIR across 37 games in the 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague campaign.
The French center has spent five years in the EuroLeague, making his competition debut with Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in 2017-18 and remaining there for the 2018-19 season. After averaging a league-best 8.3 rebounds per game in 2018-19 and helping Baskonia make the playoffs as the seventh seed, Poirier was named to the All-EuroLeague Second Team. His EuroLeague performances caught the eye of NBA clubs, with Poirier going on to play for the Boston Celtics in 2019-20 and the Philadelphia 76ers in 2020-21.
After a couple of years away, Poirier returned to the EuroLeague in the summer of 2021 by joining Real. He immediately had a key role playing behind Tavares as Real went 18-10 in the regular season, good for fourth position, before sweeping Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv in the playoffs and defeating FC Barcelona in the semifinals. However, Poirier and Los Blancos then lost to Anadolu Efes Istanbul in the championship game.
His second season at Real resulted in a third-placed finish in the regular season, going 23-11, but he was only able to play in Game 2 of the playoffs against Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade – a series Los Blancos went on to win 3-2 – due to injury. That also meant he missed out on playing at the Final Four as Real beat Barcelona in the semifinals and Olympiacos Piraeus in the championship game to lift the club’s 11th EuroLeague title.
Fresh off becoming a EuroLeague champion for the first time, Poirier had his best season in scoring and blocks in 2023-24 as Real looked to win back-to-back championships. Los Blancos posted a EuroLeague-record 27 wins in the regular season by going 27-7, then they swept Baskonia in the playoffs and beat Olympiacos in the semifinals to set up a championship game showdown against Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens. Yet, Poirier and Real came up short in the title decider.
Poirier brings high-level play and plenty of experience to an Efes side looking to bounce back under head coach Tomislav Mijatovic, as Efes has failed to make the playoffs in each of the last two seasons.
Coach Mijatovic almost pulled off a miracle by leading Efes to the play-in, but the club lost to Virtus Segafredo Bologna in the first round and thus saw its playoff dream come to an end. Efes will be hoping that Poirier can help bring them back to their former glories.