# Thomas Heurtel

Thomas David Heurtel (French pronunciation:; born 10 April 1989) is a French professional basketball player for Leyma Coruña of the Spanish Liga ACB. Standing at 1.89 m (6 ft 2+1⁄2 in), he plays at the point guard position.

## Professional career
### France (2007–2010)

Heurtel rose through the ranks at the French club Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez, and he played in the senior men's first team of the club for two seasons. In the 2008–09 season, he won the French League's Rising Star Award.
One year later, after the relegation of Pau-Orthez, he signed with the French club ASVEL Basket, but he played on loan with French club Strasbourg IG.

### Spain (2010–2014)

In the summer of 2010, Heurtel left France, to join the Spanish League club Meridiano Alicante.
In 2011, Heurtel signed with Spanish club Baskonia, and with them he debuted in the top-tier level European-wide league, the EuroLeague.

### Turkey (2014–2017)

On 27 December 2014, just before the start of the Top 16 stage of the 2014–15 Euroleague season, Anadolu Efes bought him to Baskonia and Heurtel signed a contract until June 2017 with Turkish club Anadolu Efes, of the Turkish Basketball Super League (BSL). With Efes, Heurtel needed just two months to win his first club title, as he helped his team to win the Turkish Cup title. Additionally, Heurtel was named the Turkish Cup Final MVP. At the beginning of the next season, Heurtel helped Anadolu Efes to beat Pınar Karşıyaka to win the Turkish President´s Cup, his second title with Efes.
In the 2016–17 season, Heurtel was named the EuroLeague MVP of the Month, for the first time in his career, after averaging 16.7 points and 10.7 assists in the month of February.

### Return to Spain (2017–2021)

On 22 June 2017 Heurtel signed a two-year deal with FC Barcelona Lassa of the Liga ACB. On 18 February 2018 Heurtel won the Copa del Rey with FC Barcelona Lassa and was named MVP of the tournament.
On July 5, 2019, Heurtel resigned with FC Barcelona for two more years, with an option to extend it until the end of the 2021–22 campaign.
Heurtel would leave Barcelona surrounded by controversy in 2021, after an incident during the team's trip to Istanbul for a Euroleague game in December 2020. The player was not allowed to travel back to Barcelona with the team and was left at Istanbul airport by the FC Barcelona delegation after it was discovered he was allegedly negotiating with rivals Real Madrid behind the club's back. Heurtel wouldn't play a game again for the rest of his stint at Barcelona, training with the reserve team.

### Return to France (2021)

On February 24, 2021, Heurtel signed with ASVEL of the French LNB Pro A for the rest of the season.

### Second return to Spain (2021–2022)

On July 6, 2021, Heurtel signed a one-year deal with Real Madrid of the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. He was sidelined in the latter stretch of the season due to disciplinary reasons. On June 29, 2022, Heurtel officially parted ways with the Spanish club.

### Zenit Saint Petersburg (2022–2024)

On September 21, 2022, Heurtel signed with Zenit Saint Petersburg. On August 7, 2024, he parted ways with the club.

### Shenzhen Leopards (2024)

In September 2024, Heurtel signed to Shenzhen Leopards of the Chinese Basketball Association.

### Básquet Coruña (2025–present)

In January 2025, Heurtel would return to Spain surrounded by controversy again. While initial reports linked him with a return to FC Barcelona, the Catalans would cancel the transfer after the outcry the news generated among fans. On January 3, Heurtel had already landed in Barcelona airport with his family, attending journalists and expressing his wishes to reconcile with Barcelona fans, when news broke that the transfer was cancelled. Heurtel would later hold a press conference with his agent, in which he expressed he felt "disrespected and deceived" by the FC Barcelona board.
Heurtel would later end up signing with Leyma Coruña of the Liga ACB, where he was announced as a new player on January 10, 2025.

## National team career

Heurtel played with the French under-20 national team at the 2008 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship, and at the 2009 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship, where he won a silver medal. He has also been a member of the senior men's French national basketball team. With France, he played at the EuroBasket 2013, where he won a gold medal, at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, where he won a bronze medal, and at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
After Heurtel broke his agreement not to play for any Russian or Belarusian team in order to represent France at EuroBasket 2022—by joining a Russian team in 2022—in November 2022 French basketball federation president Jean-Pierre Siutat said: "he will no longer be there (in the France national team). It’s over."

## Career statistics
### EuroLeague

| * | Led the league |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | PIR |
| 2011–12 | Baskonia | 10 | 4 | 11.4 | .389 | .235 | .500 | .8 | 1.0 | .1 | — | 3.3 | 1.7 |
| 2012–13 | Baskonia | 28 | 20 | 20.4 | .484 | .437 | .690 | 2.1 | 4.5 | .7 | — | 7.2 | 9.1 |
| 2013–14 | Baskonia | 21 | 19 | 25.8 | .429 | .235 | .786 | 2.1 | 5.3 | .7 | — | 8.0 | 9.8 |
| 2014–15 | Baskonia | 10 | 6 | 28.3 | .532 | .563 | .786 | 2.8 | 6.7 | .9 | — | 12.2 | 16.2 |
| 2014–15 | Anadolu Efes | 18 | 9 | 24.0 | .418 | .393 | .826 | 2.4 | 6.2 | .6 | .1 | 9.4 | 10.8 |
| 2015–16 | Anadolu Efes | 24 | 15 | 27.4 | .498 | .427 | .803 | 2.9 | 7.9* | .8 | — | 12.7 | 17.3 |
| 2016–17 | Anadolu Efes | 35 | 6 | 26.3 | .456 | .337 | .867 | 1.7 | 5.6 | .8 | — | 12.7 | 12.5 |
| 2017–18 | Barcelona | 30 | 22 | 23.6 | .500 | .348 | .814 | 2.4 | 6.4 | .7 | — | 11.3 | 13.9 |
| 2018–19 | Barcelona | 35 | 19 | 21.1 | .477 | .450 | .753 | 1.9 | 4.8 | .7 | — | 10.4 | 11.1 |
| 2019–20 | Barcelona | 3 | 0 | 13.3 | .385 | .400 | 1.000 | 2.3 | 4.7 | .3 | — | 5.3 | 7.3 |
| 2020–21 | Barcelona | 12 | 0 | 13.5 | .289 | .211 | .833 | 1.2 | 2.4 | .4 | — | 2.9 | 1.9 |
| 2021–22 | Real Madrid | 27 | 14 | 19.3 | .421 | .400 | .857 | 2.4 | 4.6 | .6 | — | 9.0 | 9.7 |
| Career | Career | 253 | 134 | 22.5 | .461 | .382 | .805 | 2.1 | 5.3 | .7 | .0 | 9.6 | 11.1 |