Henri Mikael Kantonen (born 20 August 1997) is a Finnish 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 who plays as a

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

for

Korisliiga The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top 12 teams of the country. In its current format, each team plays all other teams two times in the regular season, once at home and once away, for a total o ...

team

Helsinki Seagulls The Helsinki Seagulls are a professional basketball team, based in Helsinki, Finland. The club plays in the Korisliiga, the highest tier of basketball in Finland. The Seagulls were founded in 2013 and made its debut in the Korisliiga in 2014, aft ...

, and the Finland national team. Kantonen started playing basketball in a youth team of

Torpan Pojat Torpan Pojat, shortened to ToPo, is a basketball club based in Helsinki, Finland. Torpan Pojat has their men's and women's team playing in national 1st division and many minor and junior teams in different age categories. History The club was ...

Professional career

Kantonen has won two Finnish championship titles with

Kauhajoki Karhu Basket Kauhajoki Karhu Basket, is a Finnish professional basketball team from Kauhajoki. The team plays in Korisliiga, the highest tier of Finnish basketball. In 2018, the club achieved their first Korisliiga title ever after defeating Salon Vilpas 4� ...

in 2018 and 2022, during his two stints with the club. He was awarded the

Most Improved Player in 2018. In 2019, Kantonen also won the

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup (; ) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League ...

with

Salon Vilpas Salon Vilpas is a professional basketball club based in Salo, Finland. The team currently plays in the top level Korisliiga. The Vikings are a part of the Salon Vilpas multi-sport club. In 2021, Vilpas won its first Korisliiga championship. Curre ...

. During the 2020–21 season, Kantonen played for Aix Maurienne in French

LNB Pro B The LNB Pro B, commonly known as Pro B, is the second-tier level men's professional basketball league in France. It is the second division of the Ligue Nationale de Basket (LNB), which has organized the league since the year 1987. The regular se ...

, In September 2023, Kantonen signed with

Mažeikiai Mažeikiai (; Samogitian: ''Mažeikē''; ; ) is a city in northwestern Lithuania, on the Venta River. It has a population of around 32,000, making it the eighth largest city in Lithuania and eighteenth largest city in the Baltic States. Th ...

in Lithuanian Betsafe LKL. On 23 February 2024, he suffered a season-ending injury. In January 2025, he returned to Finland and joined

. They went on to win the Finnish championship title.

National team

Kantonen has played 15 youth international games with Finland U20. Since 2018, he has been part of the

Finland men's national basketball team The Finland men's national basketball team (, ) represents Finland in international basketball competition. The national team is governed by Basketball Finland. Finland has played in 17 EuroBasket tournaments, with their best finish coming in ...

, representing his country in 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 ...

and the

2023 FIBA World Cup The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 19th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams, held from 25 August to 10 September 2023. The tournament was the second to feature 32 teams and was hosted by multipl ...

.Henri Kantonen on noussut EM-kisajoukkueeseen pitemmältä takamatkalta kuin yksikään toinen Susijengin pelaaja – "Koko ajan pitää parantaa"

Etelä-Suomen Sanomat (meaning ''South Finland News'' in English; nickname ''Etlari'') is a Finnish daily newspaper published in Lahti, Finland. It is the leading paper in its metropolitan area.

, 5 September 2022

Career statistics

National team

References

External links

Henri Kantonen
at RealGM {{DEFAULTSORT:Kantonen, Henri 1997 births Living people Finnish men's basketball players Point guards Shooting guards Kouvot players Kauhajoen Karhu players Vilpas Vikings players BC Mažeikiai players Aix Maurienne Savoie Basket players Finnish expatriate basketball people in France Finnish expatriate basketball people in Lithuania Finnish basketball players 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup players Torpan Pojat players Helsinki Seagulls players 21st-century Finnish sportsmen