Henri Drell (born 25 April 2000) is an Estonian 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 for La Laguna Tenerife 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 ...

. He also represents the Estonian national basketball team internationally. Standing , he mainly plays as a

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three, is one of the five Basketball position, positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than Power forward (basketball), power forwards and Cent ...

. He is also the second Estonian player to ever play in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

Early life and youth career

Drell was born in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. He started playing basketball at nine years of age. He joined a small club in Estonia and after that he moved to

BC Kalev/Cramo BC Kalev, also known as BC Kalev/Cramo for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Tallinn, Estonia. The team plays in the Korvpalli Meistriliiga (KML), the Estonian-Latvian Basketball League and the FIBA Europe Cup. Their ...

youth. In July 2016, Drell moved to

Brose Bamberg Bamberg Baskets is a German professional basketball team from Bamberg, Franconia/North Bavaria. The club has won the German Championship title nine times and the German Cup six times. The club currently plays in the German top tier Basketball ...

, Germany, where he started to play in the German Under-19 Youth Bundesliga (NBBL- Nachwuchs-Basketball-Bundesliga). In May 2019, Drell led his NBBL team (TSV Breitengüßbach) to the silver medal. On 27 February 2019, he was selected to play in the 2019 NBBL All-Star Game. In February 2018, Drell played for

's U18 team at

Adidas Next Generation Tournament The Euroleague Basketball Next Generation Tournament is an international boy's youth age basketball tournament that is contested between the best basketball clubs in Europe in the Under-18 age category. The tournament is organized by Euroleague B ...

(ANGT) in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. He was selected to the All-Tournament Team after leading the event with 27

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

, 5.8

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

, 2.8 assists per game and a Performance Index Rating (PIR) of 26.3. Later in June, he also attended the NBA Global Camp in

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

, Italy.

Professional career

Audentes (2015–2016)

In September 2015, Drell joined his hometown team

Audentes/Noortekoondis Audentese SG/Noortekoondis (known as TSIK, Audentes and G4S Noorteliiga) is a basketball team based in Tallinn, Estonia. The team plays currently in the Saku I Liiga (Second division in Estonia), in the past Audentes SG/Noortekoondis played also i ...

Brose Bamberg (2016–2019)

On 1 July 2016, Drell signed a six-year contract with German club

. He made his professional debut for Brose Bamberg on 18 March 2019, recording 2 points in a 100–74 win over

Eisbären Bremerhaven Eisbären Bremerhaven () is a professional basketball club from Bremerhaven, Germany, that competes in the ProA. The team was established as the professional section of the club BSG Bremerhaven and played in the first-tiered Basketball Bundesliga ...

. Drell mainly played with

Baunach Young Pikes Baunach Young Pikes is a German professional basketball club, that is based in Baunach. It is the basketball section of the multi-sports club 1. FC Baunach. The team currently plays in the ProA, the German national second division. The club has a ...

, the

farm team In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a Team sport, team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any s ...

of Brose Bamberg, in the German 2nd Division (

ProA The ProA is the German basketball league system, second-tier Sports league, league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 16 teams. Officially the ProA is part of the ''2. Basketball Bundesliga'', which consists of the t ...

). In the 2018–19 season Drell's stats of 13.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game for

Baunach Baunach () is a town in the Upper Franconian district of Bamberg (district), Bamberg and the seat of the administrative community (''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'') of Baunach. Until administrative reform in 1972, Baunach belonged to the Lower Francon ...

showed marked improvement over the previous year, playing in the

. On 2 February 2019 he was named the ProA Youngster of the Month. Drell eventually finished second in Pro A Young Player of the Year voting. On 19 April 2019, he declared for the

2019 NBA draft The 2019 NBA draft was held on June 20, 2019. It took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible p ...

. ESPN ranked Drell 55th out of 100 draft prospects, but later on he decided to withdraw from the draft in order to try to improve his draft stock for the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecticut, wi ...

Victoria Libertas Pesaro (2019–2021)

On 19 July 2019, Drell signed with Italy's

Victoria Libertas Pesaro Victoria Libertas (also known as "VL" or in Italian ''Vuelle''), full name Unione Sportiva Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro, is a professional basketball team that is based in Pesaro, Italy. The club competes in the top level Italian professiona ...

of the

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club (sport), club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball ...

. He made his professional debut for VL Pesaro on 22 September 2019, recording two points and three rebounds in 25 minutes and a 72–80 loss over

Fortitudo Bologna Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna 103, commonly known as Fortitudo Bologna and currently known as Fortitudo Flats Service Bologna for sponsorship reasons, is a basketball club based in Bologna, Italy and currently plays in the second division. H ...

. However, the season ended prematurely because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In his second season with Victoria Libertas Pesaro under coach

Jasmin Repeša Jasmin Repeša (born 1 June 1961) is a Bosnian-born Croatian professional basketball coach and former player currently serving as head coach for Trapani Shark of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A. Repeša has won numerous pro club competitions d ...

, Drell played 24 games and started in 12, while averaging 16.6 minutes per game and making huge improvements throughout the season, mainly in defence and shooting. He finished the season shooting 40% from the three-point line and 50% from two-point range. On 12 January, Drell helped

VL Pesaro Victoria Libertas (also known as "VL" or in Italian ''Vuelle''), full name Unione Sportiva Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro, is a professional basketball team that is based in Pesaro, Italy. The club competes in the top level Italian professiona ...

to qualify for the

Italian Basketball Cup The Italian Basketball Cup (Italian: Coppa Italiana di Pallacanestro), or Coppa Italia, is an annual professional basketball competition between pro clubs from the Italian Basketball League (LBA). It is Italy's first-tier cup competition, and is ...

after a ten-year drought. In February 2021, in a prestigious

, Drell had a break-out tournament, where in the quarter-finals he recorded his LBA career-high 23 points, shooting 7-of-9 from the

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

, with five rebounds in an overtime 115–110 win over

Dinamo Sassari Polisportiva Dinamo, commonly known as Dinamo Sassari and currently known as Dinamo Banco di Sardegna Sassari for sponsorship reasons, is an Italian professional basketball club that is based in Sassari, Sardinia. They are the 2018–19 European ...

. Drell helped his team to reach their seventh Italian Cup finals, beating

Happy Casa Brindisi New Basket Brindisi, for sponsorship reasons named Valtur Brindisi or shortly Brindisi, is a professional Italian basketball based in Brindisi, Apulia. They compete in Serie A2, second level of Italian basketball system. Founded in 2004, the we ...

in the semi-finals, but eventually losing to AX Armani Exchange Milano in the final, where he posted 12 points and four rebounds in 23 minutes. Drell was named "Best Offensive Player" in the

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

. He finished the tournament averaging 12.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1 assist per game, Drell had also the best shooting percentages in the tournament: 63.6% from the two-point range and 62.5% from the three-point range. He parted ways with the team on 30 November 2021.

Windy City Bulls (2022–2023)

On 15 January 2022, NBA Draft-eligible Drell was acquired from the available player pool by the

Windy City Bulls The Windy City Bulls are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and are affiliated with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls play their home games at Now Arena, from Chicago. It became the thirte ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

. In April 2022, Drell made history for the Windy City Bulls, becoming tenth in all-time blocks in franchise history, despite playing only 17.3 minutes per game over 29 games in the season. After going undrafted in 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 ...

, he signed an

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season basketball competition organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA). NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regula ...

contract with the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

. On 12 October 2022, the Chicago Bulls signed Drell to an Exhibit-10 contract and immediately waived him on the same day. He later re-signed with the Windy City Bulls and ended the season averaging 11.6 points, 6 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game.

Chorale Roanne Basket (France) (2023)

On 9 April 2023, Drell returned to Europe, signing for the remainder of the season with French club

Chorale Roanne Basket Chorale Roanne Basket is a professional basketball club that is based in Roanne, France. The club plays in the first division LNB Pro A. Their home arena is Halle André Vacheresse. The club was founded in 1937 and the team's colors are blue and w ...

of the

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 ...

Chicago / Windy City Bulls (2023–2024)

On 12 September 2023, Drell signed with the

, but was waived on 12 October. On 2 November, Drell rejoined the

. On 16 December, Drell signed a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless o ...

with Chicago. Drell made his

debut on 14 March against

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

, scoring 2 points and dishing out 2 assists. He became the second Estonian player to ever play in the NBA after

Martin Müürsepp Martin Müürsepp (; born 26 September 1974) is an Estonian professional basketball coach and former player, who is the head coach of Haljala NGU of the Saku 1 liiga. Widely regarded as one of Estonia's greatest basketball players of all time, ...

, who debuted with

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...

in 1996.

Rip City Remix (2024–2025)

On 13 August 2024, Drell signed with the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (N ...

, but was waived on 27 September. On 28 October, he joined the

Rip City Remix The Rip City Remix are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in North Portland, Oregon, and are affiliated with the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association. The team plays home games at the Chile ...

La Laguna Tenerife (2025–present)

On March 13, 2025, Drell signed with the La Laguna Tenerife of the Spanish

and the

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 ...

National team career

Junior national team

Drell competed for

for the first time at the

2016 FIBA U16 European Championship The 2016 FIBA U16 European Championship was the 30th edition of the FIBA U16 European Championship, European Under-16 Basketball Championship. Sixteen teams participated in the competition, held in Radom, Poland, from 12 to 20 August 2016. Bosnia ...

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship. Radom is the fifteenth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in its province w ...

, Poland. He helped the Estonia national under-16 team to avoid relegation while averaging a team-high 14.1

and 7.1

per game. Drell played in the 2018 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship in Division B, where he was named to the All-Star Five after ranking third among all players with 19

per game and helping his team finish in fourth place.

Senior national team

He made his debut for the senior Estonian national team on 21 February 2019, in a

2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 18th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams, held from 31 August to 15 September 2019. The tournament was hosted in China and was rescheduled from 2018 to 2019, b ...

qualifier against

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

, scoring 4 points in a 71–70 home victory. In February 2021, Drell posted 12 points including the game-winning shot and three rebounds in 28 minutes in a 105–101 victory over

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, leading

to their third Eurobasket tournament of the century. He finished

Eurobasket 2022 qualification The EuroBasket 2022 qualification was a basketball competition that was played from November 2017 to February 2021, to determine the 20 FIBA Europe nations who would join the automatically qualified co-hosts Czech Republic, Georgia, Italy, and G ...

averaging 7.8 points and 2.4 rebounds in 5 games. As a member of the senior Estonian national team, Drell had a break-out tournament at the

Eurobasket 2022 The EuroBasket 2022 was the 41st edition of the EuroBasket championship organized by FIBA Europe. It was the first since it was agreed it would take place every four years, with a similar system of qualification as for the FIBA Basketball World C ...

, where he recorded 20 points, shooting 8-of-12 from the field, with three rebounds in a blowout win against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

, earning him the TLC Player of the Game honours. He finished the tournament averaging 8.6 points while shooting 40% from the three-point-line and grabbing 5 rebounds per game in 25 minutes of action, helping Estonia finish 19th out of 24.

Personal life

Henri Drell is from a basketball background. His father was a former professional

player who played for

Kalev Kalev may refer to: * Kalev (mythology), a character from Estonian mythology * Kalev (given name), an Estonian masculine given name * Kalev (confectioner), an Estonian sweets company * BC Kalev, a basketball club based in Tallinn, Estonia * BC ...

. His mother and sister were also professional basketball players and were part of the

Estonia women's national basketball team The Estonia women's national basketball team () represents Estonia in international women's basketball matches. They are controlled by the Estonian Basketball Association. Team Current roster Roster for the EuroBasket Women 2019 qualification ...

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, 4 , , 0 , , 7.5 , , .400 , , .333 , , .500 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , .3 , , 2.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 4 , , 0 , , 7.5 , , .400 , , .333 , , .500 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , .3 , , 2.8

Domestic leagues and other leagues

Estonia national team

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016 , style="text-align:left;",

2016 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship The 2016 FIBA U16 European Championship was the 30th edition of the European Under-16 Basketball Championship. Sixteen teams participated in the competition, held in Radom, Poland, from 12 to 20 August 2016. Bosnia and Herzegovina, the defending ...

, style="text-align:left;", Estonia U-16 , 7 , , 7 , , 25.1 , , .376 , , .294 , , .818 , , 7.1 , , 1.9 , , 2.1 , , .6 , , 14.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017 , style="text-align:left;",

2017 FIBA U18 European Championship Division B The 2017 FIBA U18 European Championship Division B was the 13th edition of Division B of the FIBA U18 European basketball championship. It was played in Tallinn, Estonia, from 28 July to 6 August 2017. 24 teams participated in the competition. Cr ...

, style="text-align:left;", Estonia U-18 , 8 , , 8 , , 24.3 , , .416 , , .314 , , .833 , , 4.4 , , 2.1 , , 1.2 , , .6 , , 12.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018 , style="text-align:left;", 2018 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship Division B , style="text-align:left;", Estonia U-18 , 7 , , 7 , , 26.8 , , .469 , , .333 , , .861 , , 5.7 , , 1.7 , , 1.4 , , .7 , , 19.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019 , style="text-align:left;", 2019 Basketball World Cup qualification , style="text-align:left;",

, 2 , , 0 , , 13.8 , , .545 , , .333 , , .833 , , .0 , , .5 , , 1.5 , , .0 , , 9.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2020 , style="text-align:left;",

EuroBasket 2022 qualification The EuroBasket 2022 qualification was a basketball competition that was played from November 2017 to February 2021, to determine the 20 FIBA Europe nations who would join the automatically qualified co-hosts Czech Republic, Georgia, Italy, and G ...

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

, 5 , , 0 , , 18.5 , , .438 , , .462 , , .556 , , 2.4 , , .8 , , .8 , , .6 , , 7.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2022 , style="text-align:left;",

EuroBasket 2022 The EuroBasket 2022 was the 41st edition of the EuroBasket championship organized by FIBA Europe. It was the first since it was agreed it would take place every four years, with a similar system of qualification as for the FIBA Basketball World C ...

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

, 5 , , 5 , , 25.0 , , .459 , , .400 , , 1.000 , , 5.0 , , 1.8 , , 1.4 , , .8 , , 8.6

Awards and accomplishments

Professional career *

Best Offensive Player (

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

)

References

External links

Henri Drell
at basket.ee

at fiba.com
Henri Drell
at legabasket.it (in Italian)
Henri Drell
at draftexpress.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Drell, Henri 2000 births Living people 21st-century Estonian sportsmen Bamberg Baskets players Basketball players from Tallinn Baunach Young Pikes players CB Canarias players Chicago Bulls players Chorale Roanne Basket players Estonian expatriate basketball people in France Estonian expatriate basketball people in Germany Estonian expatriate basketball people in Italy Estonian expatriate basketball people in Spain Estonian expatriate basketball people in the United States Estonian men's basketball players Korvpalli Meistriliiga players Lega Basket Serie A players Liga ACB players Rip City Remix players Small forwards Undrafted NBA players Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro players Windy City Bulls players NBA players from Estonia