Michael Craion (born 2 August 1989) is an American 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 Union Tours Basket Métropole of the French NM1. He won the Icelandic championship in 2015 and 2016, and was widely regarded as the best foreign player in the country, winning the Úrvalsdeild Foreign Player of the year three times.

College career

Craion played two seasons at

Independence Community College Independence Community College is a public community college in Independence, Kansas. It was formerly Independence Community Junior College. History Independence Community College was established in 1925 as grades 13 and 14 of the Independence p ...

before playing for

Oral Roberts Granville Oral Roberts (January 24, 1918 – December 15, 2009) was an American Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christianity, Christian televangelist, who was one of the first to propagate Prosperity theology, Prosperity Gospel Theo ...

from 2009 to 2012, where he averaged 11.8 points and 6.7 rebounds in 69 games. In 2010, he was a second team All-

Summit League The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States, from Minnesota in the east, to the Dakotas, Nebraska and Colorado to the West, and Mis ...

and the Newcomer of the Year. He missed most of the 2010–2011 season after breaking his leg.

Professional career

Craion started his professional career in 2012 with

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavík merged with nearby Njar ...

in the Icelandic

Úrvalsdeild The Besta deild karla () is a professional association football league in Iceland and the highest level of the Icelandic football league system. The competition was founded in 1912 as the Icelandic Championship. Because of the harsh winters in I ...

. In his first season, he averaged 21.4 points and 13.1 rebounds but Keflavík was knocked out by

Stjarnan Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan (, ), commonly known as Stjarnan (), is an Icelandic multi-sports club specialising in handball, football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics located in Garðabær. Basketball Men's basketball As of the 2017–2 ...

in the first round of the playoffs. In August, 2013, Craion resigned with Keflavík. For the season he averaged 23.2 points and 12.2 rebounds and was named the foreign player of the year but was unable to prevent Keflavík from being knocked out again by Stjarnan in the first round of the playoffs. After two season with Keflavík, Craion left and joined defending champions KR in 2014. In his first season with KR, he averaged 24.6 points and 12.4 rebounds, helping the club winning the national championship. For his effort he was named the Playoffs MVP and the foreign player of the year. He resigned with KR for the 2015–2016 season and helped the club win both the national championship and the Icelandic Basketball Cup. After the season he was named the foreign player of the year for the third straight season. In August 2016, Craion signed with

CEP Lorient Cercle d'Éducation Physique de Lorient, commonly known as CEP Lorient, is a French basketball club based in Lorient. The team currently plays in the Nationale Masculine 1, the national third tier league. Established in 1934, the team gained its pr ...

in the French NM1 where he averaged 17.7 points and 7.8 rebounds. Prior to the 2017–2018 season, Craion left Lorient and joined NM1's Saint-Vallier. He started 34 of 35 games for Saint-Vallier, averaging 14.1 points and 8.3 rebounds. On 14 September 2018, Craion returned to Iceland and signed with Keflavík. In 25 regular season and playoff games, he averaged 21.7 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. On April 24, 2019, he has signed with

ADA Blois Basket 41 Abeille des Aydes Blois Basket 41, commonly known as ADA Blois, is a professional basketball based in Blois, France. The club plays in the Pro A, which is the top tier of basketball in the country. History Created in 1907 under the name Abeill ...

of the 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 August 2019, Craion returned Iceland, signing with his old team KR. In 21 games, he averaged 19.0 points, 9.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists. In August 2020, Craion signed with Union Tours Basket Métropole of the French NM1.

Honours

Iceland

Club

* Icelandic Champion (3):

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2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

* Icelandic Cup : 2016 * Icelandic Super Cup (2): 2014, 2015 * Icelandic Company Cup: 2014

Individual

* Úrvalsdeild Foreign Player of the year (3): 2014, 2015, 2016 * Úrvalsdeild Playoffs MVP : 2015

References

External links

Michael Craion
at realgm.com
Michael Craion
at

Icelandic Basketball Association The Icelandic Basketball Association (''Icelandic:Körfuknattleikssamband Íslands - KKÍ'') is the national governing body of basketball in Iceland and is a member of the continental association FIBA Europe and the global International Basketbal ...

Oral Roberts bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Craion, Michael 1989 births Living people ADA Blois Basket 41 players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Pennsylvania Independence Pirates men's basketball players Keflavík men's basketball players KR men's basketball players Oral Roberts Golden Eagles men's basketball players Power forwards Úrvalsdeild karla (basketball) players CEP Lorient players Union Tours Basket Métropole players American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Iceland