Max Besselink (born 4 April 2002) 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 for Finnish

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 Kataja BC.

Early life

Besselink was born in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Finland, to Canadian father and Finnish-Swedish mother. He was raised in

Vartiokylä Vartiokylä () is a Subdivisions of Helsinki, neighbourhood in the East Helsinki area of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Its name is derived from the ruins of an eleventh-century fortress on the Linnanvuori hill in Vartioharju, one of Vartiokyl ...

, Helsinki. His father, Gerry Besselink, played basketball in Finland during 1989–1997, and represented Canada national team in

1986 FIBA World Championship The 1986 FIBA World Championship was the 10th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. It was hosted by Spain and was held from 5 to 20 July 1986. The final phase of the tournament was hel ...

tournament. His mother Nina Besselink (née Johansson), also a basketball player, played in Finland national team and has won two Finnish championship titles.

Career

Besselink started his senior career with

Helsingin NMKY NMKY Helsinki (, HNMKY for short) is a YMCA in Helsinki, Finland, best known for its basketball section. Other activities include sports like floorball and martial arts, scouting, choirs, orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental en ...

in second-tier

Koripallon I-divisioona The Koripallon I-divisioona is the second tier professional basketball league in Finland. The teams play playoffs

in 2018. He attended the

Basketball Without Borders Basketball Without Borders is a basketball instructional camp organized by the NBA in conjunction with FIBA. It presents itself as a “basketball development and community outreach program that unites young basketball players to promote the sport ...

camp in June 2019. Besselink played with

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 ...

in the first part of the 2020–21 season in top-tier

, but in February 2021, he suddenly re-joined the second-tier team Helsingin NMKY. Later in the same year, he was supposed to join

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private university, private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California, United States. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university' ...

, but after the summer school he decided to turn professional. On 28 September 2021, he joined Korisliiga team

BC Nokia BC Nokia is a professional basketball club based in Nokia, Finland. The team currently plays in the top level Korisliiga. History In the 2014–15 season, Nokia won the Finnish First Division and was promoted to the Korisliiga. The team finished i ...

for the season. It was reported in May 2022 that Besselink had signed with

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 ...

team

s.Oliver Würzburg s.Oliver, legally ''s.Oliver Bernd Freier GmbH & Co. KG'', is a German fashion company headquartered in Rottendorf that sells apparel, shoes, accessories, jewellery, fragrances and eyewear worldwide. History The company was founded in 1969 ...

, but the deal was cancelled later. Besselink had earlier played with Finland U20 at the 2022 FIBA U20B EuroBasket, and became ill of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

and

sinusitis Sinusitis, also known as rhinosinusitis, is an inflammation of the mucous membranes that line the sinuses resulting in symptoms that may include production of thick nasal mucus, nasal congestion, facial congestion, facial pain, facial pressure ...

in the middle of the tournament. The rehabilitation took over one-and-a-half months and eventually Würzburg announced that his services were not needed and exercised a contract buy-out. In September 2022, Besselink signed a contract with

Tapiolan Honka Tapiolan Honka is a basketball club based in Espoo, Finland. Their men's team plays in top-tier Korisliiga, after they were promoted from Koripallon I-divisioona, I division A in 2024, and their women's team plays in Naisten Korisliiga. History ...

, but soon after he exercised a transfer abroad clause in his contract, and joined Bundesliga team

BG Göttingen Basketballgemeinschaft Göttingen () is a German basketball club based in Göttingen, Germany. In 2010, the club won the EuroChallenge against Krasnye Krylya Samara from Russia. The team plays in Germany's second division, the ProA. History Once ...

. On 28 November 2022, Besselink recorded a season-high 10 points in a 96–95 win against

ALBA Berlin Alba Berlin is a professional basketball club that is based in Berlin, Germany. The club was founded in 1991, and is today the largest German national basketball club by membership figures. Alba Berlin hosts its home games at the Uber Arena and c ...

. Due to injuries, he managed to play in 16 Bundesliga games, averaging 2.1 points and 0.8 rebounds in less than 10 minutes per game in total. After a season with Göttingen, Besselink moved to Belgium and signed a three-year deal with

BNXT League The BNXT League is a professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is the first tier in both the Dutch and Belgian system, replacing the Dutch Basketball League, DBL and Pro Basketball League, PBL. The inaugural season ...

team

Belfius Mons-Hainaut Union Mons-Hainaut is a Belgian professional basketball club that is based in Mons, Wallonia. The club competes in the highest division of the country, the BNXT League. The club's home arena is the Mons Arena. Founded as Quaregnon in 1959, the c ...

in July 2023. On 8 January 2024, he returned from an injury, and made his debut in BNXT League. Later he suffered another injury and resided in Finland while recovering.Loukkaantumiskierteestä toipuva Max Besselink hakee Nokialta uutta nousua – Tavoite yhä NBA:ssa
koripallo.com, 26 July 2024 On 18 June 2024, Besselink returned to Finland and signed with

National team

A former youth international, Besselink has represented Finland senior national team on two occasions. Most recently he played in a 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifying win against

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, recording 5 points, 6 rebounds and an assist in 9 minutes.

Personal life

Besselink's mother tongue is

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

. He also speaks Finnish, and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

with his father."Pappa tyckte jag inte var så bra på fotboll" – Max Besselink har vuxit upp i en basketfamilj och nu är det hans tur att debutera i ligan
Svenska

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

, 11 October 2020 His brother Michael is also a basketball player.

References

External links

*
RealGMProBallers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Besselink, Max 2002 births Living people Finnish men's basketball players Small forwards Finnish expatriate basketball people in Germany Finnish expatriate basketball people in Belgium Finnish people of Canadian descent BC Nokia players Kataja BC players Helsinki Seagulls players BG Göttingen players Belfius Mons-Hainaut players Swedish-speaking Finns Finnish expatriate basketball people in the United States 21st-century Finnish sportsmen