Anthony Michael Lewis Polite (born 21 June 1997) is a Swiss 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 (appro ...

player. He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University (FSU) located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I, prima ...

Early life

Polite was born in

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

, Switzerland, where his father was playing basketball professionally. He grew up playing

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and basketball. He moved to the United States to attend high school at Saint Andrew's School in

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 97,422 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and it ranked as the 23rd-largest city in Florida in 2022. Many people with a Boca Raton Address, ...

. As a senior, Polite averaged 20 points and 11.7 rebounds per game, earning All-Palm Beach 6A-1A Player of the Year honors for a second straight year. He committed to playing college basketball for

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

over an offer from Miami (Florida), among others.

College career

Polite

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his first season at Florida State due to knee injuries. As a freshman, he averaged 2.7 points per game. Polite averaged 5.8 points in his sophomore season. On 22 March 2021, he scored a career-high 22 points in a 71–53 win over

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

at the second round of the NCAA tournament. As a junior, Polite averaged 10.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, shooting 43.6 percent from three-point range. On 5 April 2022, Polite declared for the

2022 NBA draft The 2022 NBA draft (branded as the 2022 NBA Draft presented by State Farm for sponsorship reasons), the 76th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual NBA draft, draft, was held on June 23, 2022, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New ...

, forgoing his remaining college eligibility.

Professional career

On July 13, 2022, he has signed with

ASVEL ASVEL Basket, currently known as LDLC ASVEL for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional basketball team located in the commune of Villeurbanne, a suburb of Lyon, France. The club, which is the basketball section of the ASVEL multi-sports ...

of the French

LNB Pro A LNB may refer to: Sport * Liga Nacional de Baloncesto, a professional basketball league in the Dominican Republic * Liga Nacional de Básquetbol, an Argentine basketball league * Liga Nacional de Básquetbol (Paraguay), Liga Nacional de Básquetb ...

. On January 14, 2023, he signed with

Hamburg Towers Hamburg Towers, for sponsorship reasons named Veolia Towers Hamburg, is a professional basketball team, based in Hamburg, Germany. After promotion from the ProA in 2019, the Towers are currently playing in the Basketball Bundesliga, the top tier ...

of the German

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the German basketball league system, highest level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in German ...

. On June 20, 2023, he signed with

CB Breogán Club Baloncesto Breogán, S.A.D., also known as Río Breogán for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Lugo, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. The club was founded in 1966 by the Varela-Portas brothers. The team pla ...

of the Spanish

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

and

Basketball Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL), also commonly known as the FIBA Champions League, is an annual professional basketball competition for European sports club, clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the European professional club basketball system ...

. On June 19, 2024, Polite signed with

Fukushima Firebonds The are a professional basketball team that compete in the second division of the Japanese B.League. History In May 2013 Fukushima Prefecture was announced as the successful bidder for an expansion franchise to enter the 2014-15 season of the b ...

of the Japanese

B.League The B.League is a men's professional basketball league in Japan. The league is operated by the Japan Professional Basketball League and was formed as a result of a merger between the National Basketball League that was operated by the FIBA-affi ...

. On August 23, 2024, his contract was terminated due to he was diagnosed with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

National team career

Polite represented Switzerland at the

2015 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship Division B The 2015 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship Division B was an international youth basketball competition held in Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It i ...

and the 2013 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship Division B.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 1 , , 0 , , 4.0 , , – , , – , , – , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , .0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 0 , , 10.6 , , .382 , , .239 , , .773 , , 1.6 , , .6 , , .6 , , .0 , , 2.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 8 , , 19.7 , , .406 , , .354 , , .679 , , 2.9 , , 1.1 , , 1.2 , , .2 , , 5.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 21 , , 16 , , 26.6 , , .500 , , .436 , , .667 , , 4.5 , , 1.8 , , 1.4 , , .4 , , 10.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 24 , , 24 , , 27.9 , , .429 , , .321 , , .800 , , 5.6 , , 2.5 , , 1.5 , , .5 , , 9.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 107 , , 48 , , 20.2 , , .436 , , .349 , , .741 , , 3.4 , , 1.4 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , 6.6

Personal life

Polite's father, Michael, played college basketball for Florida State before embarking on a professional career in Europe.

References

External links

Florida State Seminoles bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Polite, Anthony 1997 births Living people ASVEL Basket players CB Breogán players Florida State Seminoles men's basketball players Hamburg Towers players Liga ACB players Small forwards Sportspeople from Lugano Swiss expatriate basketball people in France Swiss expatriate basketball people in the United States Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Germany Swiss men's basketball players Swiss people of American descent 21st-century Swiss sportsmen