Antonio Hester

Last updated

Antonio Hester
AntonioHester.jpg
Hester in 2024
Free agent
Position Power forward / center
Personal information
Born (1990-05-22) May 22, 1990 (age 34)
Miami, Florida, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight198 lb (90 kg)
Career information
High school Miami Norland
(Miami, Florida)
College
NBA draft 2012: undrafted
Playing career2012–present
Career history
2012–2013 Turun NMKY
2013–2014Atletico Nacional
2014Real Club de Lima
2014–2015 CB Tarragona
2015–2016 Miami Midnites
2016–2018 Tindastóll
2018–2019 Starwings Basel
2019–2020 Bàsquet Girona
2020 Força Lleida
2020 Reales de La Vega
2021 Njarðvík
2021–2022 Terrafirma Dyip
2023 Zamboanga Valientes
2023 Magnolia Hotshots
2023Nalaikh Bison
2024 Prawira Bandung
2024Terrafirma Dyip
Career highlights and awards

Antonio Kurtis Hester (born May 22, 1990) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Terrafirma Dyip of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). In 2014, he won the Peruvian championship with Real Club de Lima and in 2018, he won the Icelandic Basketball Cup with Tindastóll. Listed at 198 cm, he primarily plays the power forward and center positions. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Contents

College career

Hester was named NAIA Third-Team All-American in 2012 after averaging 15.5 points and 8.6 rebounds for the University of Mobile. [6]

Professional career

Early career

In 2012, Hester joined Turun NMKY of the Finnish First Division.

In 2014, Hester played for Real Club of Lima in the Liga de Basket de Lima, [7] helping them win the Peruvian championship in July that year. [8]

He played for CB Tarragona during the 2014–15 LEB Plata season, averaging 13.4 points and 7.6 rebounds. [9] In September 2014, he helped the club to victory in the LEB Catalan basketball league and was named the finals MVP. [10]

Tindastóll

In August 2016, Hester signed with Tindastóll of the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild karla. [11] A month later, Tindastóll released Hester to sign Mamadou Samb. [12] In November, Tindastóll brought Hester back as a part of a major roster overhaul where they fired head coach José Maria Costa and released Samb and Pape Seck. [13] [14] [3] For the season he averaged 23.5 points and 10.7 rebounds in 32.0 minutes per game. [15] Tindastóll finished third in the league but despite home court advantage, it lost to Keflavík in the first round of the playoffs. [16]

In June 2017, Hester re-signed with Tindastóll for the 2017–2018 season. [17] In November 2017, Hester injured his ankle badly and was initially thought to have broken it. [18] [19] Further tests revealed that the ankle was unbroken and that recovery time would be in weeks, not months. [20] [21]

On January 13, 2018, Hester helped Tindastóll to its first major title when it won the Icelandic Basketball Cup. [22] [23]

For the season, Hester averaged 20.6 points and 8.7 rebounds in 25.3 minutes per game, [24] helping Tindastóll to a 16–6 record [25] and the third seed in the playoffs. [26]

In the playoffs, Tindastóll swept Grindavík, 3–0, in the first round, [27] advancing to the semi-finals against ÍR. In the fifth game of the semi-finals on April 13, 2018, Hester injured his ankle. Despite the injury, Tindastóll prevailed in the game and advanced to the Úrvalsdeild finals. [28] Although hobbled, Hester played in the first game of the finals series against four-time defending champions of KR. There he injured his other ankle after trying to block a shot from Brynjar Þór Björnsson, [29] resulting in him missing game two of the series. [30] Without him, Tindastóll staged a spirited performance, blowing out KR on their own homecourt, 98–70, and tying the series at one game apiece. [31] After the season he was named the Úrvalsdeild Karla Foreign Player of the Year. [32]

Starwings Basel and Bàsquet Girona

In December 2018, Hester signed with Starwings Basel of the Swiss Basketball League. [33] In 14 games, he averaged 19.9 points and 9.6 rebounds per game.

Hester spent the 2019–2020 season with Bàsquet Girona in LEB Plata where he averaged 13.1 points and 8.3 rebounds in 25 games. On August 27, 2020, he signed with Força Lleida. [34]

Return to Iceland

In January 2021, Hester returned to Iceland and signed with Njarðvík. [35] For the season he averaged a team leading 18.4 points and league leading 12.0 rebounds per game. During the last game of the season, he had 30 points and 20 rebounds. [36] He helped Njarðvík win its last three games, where he averaged 23.7 points 13.3 rebounds, staving off relegation but missing out on the playoffs on a tie-breaker with Tindastóll. [37]

Philippines

In November 2021, Hester signed with Terrafirma Dyip of the Philippine Basketball Association. [38]

In December 2022, he signed with Zamboanga Valientes of the ASEAN Basketball League. [39]

In February 2023, Hester signed with the Magnolia Hotshots of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) to replace Erik McCree as the team's import for the 2023 PBA Governors' Cup. [40]

In August 2024, he returns to the Terrafirma Dyip of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) to replace injured Brandon Edwards as the team's import for the 2024 PBA Governors' Cup. [41]

Awards, titles and accomplishments

Individual awards

Titles

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References

  1. ↑ Elías Orri Njarðarson (June 24, 2017). "Hester spilar með Tindastól í vetur". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Gjörbreytt á Króknum". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). November 15, 2016. p. B1. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Körfuboltakvöld: Innkoma Antonio Hester í lið Tindastóls". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). November 27, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  4. ↑ "El Bàsquet Girona fitxa l'aler pivot Antonio Hester". basquetgironi.cat (in Catalan). July 30, 2019. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  5. ↑ "Neu mit Antonio Hester (USA, 27, 198cm) – Alexis Herrmann fällt aus". Starwings Basel (in German). December 13, 2018. Archived from the original on January 9, 2019. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Antonio Hester Named 3rd-Team All-America". umobilerams.com. University of Mobile. March 14, 2012. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Real Club tie Peruvian title series 2–2". court-side.com. July 16, 2014. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Real Club de Lima wins Peru Liga". court-side.com. July 17, 2014. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Antonio Hester rebutja l'oferta del cbt". cbtarragona.cat (in Spanish). CB Tarragona. July 30, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  10. ↑ "El CBT, campió de la Lliga Catalana LEB amb un final d'infart". delcamp.cat (in Spanish). September 28, 2014. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Seck Pape Abdoulaye og Antonio Kurtis Hester til Tindastóls". feykir.is (in Icelandic). August 25, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Mamadou Samb í stað Kurtis Hester". feykir.is (in Icelandic). September 4, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Tindastóll losar sig við erlenda leikmenn og þjálfarann – Martin tekur við". karfan.is (in Icelandic). November 14, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  14. ↑ "Ótrúleg leikmannavelta Tindastóls síðustu 13 mánuði". fusijama.tv (in Icelandic). November 16, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Úrvalsdeild karla Domino´s deildin (2017 Tímabil) – Antonio Hester". kki.is (in Icelandic). Icelandic Basketball Federation . Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  16. ↑ Jóhann Ingi Hafþórsson (March 24, 2017). "Keflavík sendi Tindastól í sumarfrí". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Hester áfram hjá Tindastóli". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). June 27, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  18. ↑ Runólfur Trausti Þórhallsson (November 10, 2017). "Antonio Hester ökklabrotinn". RÚV (in Icelandic). Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  19. ↑ Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson (November 10, 2017). "Antonio Hester er ökklabrotinn – "Mikið högg fyrir félagið"". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  20. ↑ "Hester óbrotinn". feykir.is (in Icelandic). November 17, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  21. ↑ Ástrós Ýr Eggertsdóttir (November 18, 2017). "Hester byrjaður í endurhæfingu". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  22. ↑ Jóhann Ingi Hafþórsson (January 13, 2018). "Tindastóll bikarmeistari í fyrsta skipti". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  23. ↑ Runólfur Trausti Þórhallsson (January 13, 2018). "Tindastóll er bikarmeistari 2018". RÚV (in Icelandic). Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  24. ↑ "Úrvalsdeild karla Domino´s deild karla (2017–2018 Tímabil) – Antonio Hester". kki.is (in Icelandic). Icelandic Basketball Federation . Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  25. ↑ "Úrvalsdeild karla Domino´s deild karla (2017–2018 Tímabil) – Staða". kki.is (in Icelandic). Icelandic Basketball Federation.
  26. ↑ Magnús Logi SIgurbjörnsson (March 8, 2018). "Tindastóll endar í þriðja sæti". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  27. ↑ Hákon Ingi Rafnsson (March 16, 2018). "Umfjöllun og viðtöl: Tindastóll – Grindavík 96–92 – Stólarnir mörðu Grindavík í spennutrylli". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  28. ↑ Kristinn Páll Teitsson (April 14, 2018). "Ökklameiðsli Antonio Hester ekki alvarleg". Fréttablaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  29. ↑ Ástrós Ýr Eggertsdóttir (April 20, 2018). "Hester var "augljóslega ekki tilbúinn að spila"". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  30. ↑ Eiríkur Stefán Ásgeirsson (April 22, 2018). "Hester: Brotnaði niður þegar ég sagði þeim að ég myndi ekki spila" (in Icelandic). Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  31. ↑ Eiríkur Stefán Ásgeirsson (April 22, 2018). "Umfjöllun og viðtöl: KR – Tindastóll 70–98 – Stólarnir svöruðu með stæl". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  32. ↑ Henry Birgir Gunnarsson (May 4, 2018). "Kristófer og Helena valin leikmenn ársins". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  33. ↑ Georges Küng (December 7, 2018). "Antonio Hester verstärkt die Starwings: Das Tabellenschlusslicht verpflichtet einen neuen Hoffnungsträger". bz Basel (in German). Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  34. ↑ "El interior Antonio Hester, nueva incorporación del ICG Força Lleida". FEB.es (in Spanish). August 27, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  35. ↑ Davíð Eldur (January 5, 2021). "Antonio Hester til Njarðvíkur". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  36. ↑ Atli Arason (May 10, 2021). "Umfjöllun og viðtöl: Njarðvík – Þór Þ. 88–73 – Njarðvíkingar sleppa við fall". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved May 11, 2021.
  37. ↑ Atli Arason (May 10, 2021). "Á ekki von á því að vera áfram í Njarðvík". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved May 11, 2021.
  38. ↑ "TNT, Meralco, 3 others to introduce new imports". pba.ph. November 3, 2021. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  39. ↑ Ramos, Gerry (December 15, 2022). "Ex-Terrafirma import Antonio Hester joins Zamboanga Valientes in ABL". Spin.ph. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  40. ↑ Bacnis, Justine (February 7, 2023). "Hester arrives to join Magnolia". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  41. ↑ "Hester excited to rejoin Terrafirma". PBA.ph. August 15, 2024. Retrieved August 15, 2024.
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