Jón Arnór Stefánsson (born 21 September 1982) is an Icelandic

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player and a former member of the Icelandic national team. One of Iceland's most successful athletes of the early 21st century, he was the

Icelandic Sportsperson of the Year The Icelandic Sportsperson of the Year ( is, Íþróttamaður ársins) is an annual award given to the best Icelandic sportsperson of the year. The winner is selected by the Icelandic Association of Sports Journalists. It was first given in 1956 t ...

in 2014 and was a 12-time Icelandic Male Basketball Player of the Year. A three time Úrvalsdeild Domestic Player of the Year, he won the Icelandic championship five times and the

FIBA Europe League FIBA EuroChallenge (called the FIBA Europe League in 2003–05, and FIBA EuroCup in 2005–08) was the 3rd-tier level transnational men's professional continental club basketball competition in Europe, from 2003 to 2015. It was organized and run ...

once. He spent most of his career in Spain, Italy and Iceland, winning 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 Lega Basket Serie A, Italian Basketball League (LBA). It is Italy's first-tier cup ...

in 2006 and the Icelandic Cup in 2017.

High school career

Jón Arnór attended Artesia High School in

Lakewood, California Lakewood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 80,048 at the 2010 census. It is bordered by Long Beach on the west and south, Bellflower on the north, Cerritos on the northeast, Cypress on the east, a ...

from 1999 to 2000. His stay was cut short when allegations rose that he and teammate Jack Michael Martínez had been illegally recruited by coach Wayne Merino. In the end Artesia's basketball program was stripped of two championships and Merino, Artesia's coach for thirteen seasons, was fired. Jón returned to KR in time for the 2000 Úrvalsdeild karla playoffs and helped the club win the national championship.

Professional career

He won the

FIBA EuroCup FIBA EuroChallenge (called the FIBA Europe League in 2003–05, and FIBA EuroCup in 2005–08) was the 3rd-tier level transnational men's professional continental club basketball competition in Europe, from 2003 to 2015. It was organized and run ...

title in 2005 with

BC Dynamo Saint Petersburg BC Dynamo Saint Petersburg was a Russian professional basketball club based in Saint Petersburg, that existed for two seasons. The club was founded in 2004 and dissolved in 2006. In the 2004–05 season, the club won the FIBA Europe League. His ...

. He was a member of the

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

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Southwest Division. The ...

from 2003 to 2004, but he spent the whole season on the injury list and never played a regular season or playoff game with them. On 30 April 2017 Jón Arnór won the Icelandic championship for the third time with KR and was named the 2017 playoffs MVP. On 28 April 2018 Jón Arnór won his fourth Icelandic championship after KR defeated Tindastóll in the Úrvalsdeild finals. In November 2018, Jón Arnór announced that he would retire after the 2018-2019 season. On 4 May 2019 Jón Arnór won his 5th national championship after KR beat ÍR in the Úrvalsdeild finals 3-2. In August 2020, Jón Arnór signed with KR Reykjavík rivals Valur. He announced his retirement from professional basketball following Valur's 2-3 loss against KR in the first round of the Úrvalsdeild playoffs. In January 2022, Jón Arnór returned to the floor with KR-b in the Icelandic third-tier 2. deild karla.

National team career

Jón Arnór played 100 games for the Icelandic men's national basketball team from 2000 to 2019, appearing in

EuroBasket 2015 EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 Sept ...

and

EuroBasket 2017 EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe and held between 31 August and 17 September 2017. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships take place every four years with a similar ...

. He retired after Iceland's 91-67 victory against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

on 21 February 2019, where he led all scorers with 17 points.

Career statistics

Euroleague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2006–07 , style="text-align:left;", Lottomatica , 6 , , 0 , , 18.2 , , .359 , , .133 , , .800 , , 1.8 , , .8 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , 6.3 , , 2.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2007–08 , style="text-align:left;", Lottomatica , 15 , , 5 , , 25.5 , , .386 , , .311 , , .796 , , 2.3 , , 1.3 , , 1.1 , , .0 , , 10.0 , , 7.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;", Unicaja , 20 , , 3 , , 13.1 , , .396 , , .286 , , .600 , , .6 , , 1.2 , , .2 , , .0 , , 5.1 , , 1.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 41 , , 8 , , 18.4 , , .386 , , .280 , , .750 , , 1.4 , , 1.2 , , .6 , , .0 , , 7.1 , , 4.0

Awards and accomplishments

Club honours

: 2004–05 *

: 2006 * Icelandic championship: 2000, 2009, 2017, 2018, 2019 * Icelandic Basketball Cup: 2017 * Icelandic Company Cup: 2008

Individual awards

: 2014 *

Icelandic Basketball Player of the Year The Icelandic Basketball Player of the Year award was established in 1973 to recognize the best Icelandic basketball player of the year. The winners are basketball players who have Icelandic citizenship, and whose performances with its sports club ...

: 2002-2005, 2007-2010, 2012–2015 * Úrvalsdeild Domestic Player of the Year : 2002, 2009, 2017 * Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First Team : 2001, 2002, 2009, 2017 * Úrvalsdeild Men's Playoffs MVP (2) : 2009, 2017 * Icelandic Cup MVP: 2017 *

FIBA EuroCup All-Star Day FIBA EuroCup All-Star Day, or FIBA EuroChallenge All-Star Day, was the All-Star Game of the now defunct 3rd-tier level European-wide professional basketball league, the FIBA EuroChallenge tournament. It started in 2004 and lasted for 5 editions un ...

: (2005)

Personal life

Jón Arnór was born in

Skövde Skövde () is a locality and urban centre in Skövde Municipality and Västra Götaland County, in the Västergötland (Western Gothland region) in central Southern Sweden. Skövde is situated some 150 km northeast of Gothenburg, between ...

, Sweden, to Icelandic parents. He is the brother of handballer and Olympic silver medalist

Ólafur Stefánsson Ólafur Indriði Stefánsson (born 3 July 1973 in Reykjavík, Iceland) is a former Icelandic handball player who, for many years was the captain of the Iceland men's national handball team but announced his international retirement after the 2 ...

and former footballer Eggert Stefánsson who played with Fram in Úrvalsdeild karla.Eggert aftur í slaginn og æfir með FH-ingum
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