Keenan Evans

Keenan Evans

Evans at Texas Tech in 2016.
No. 12 – Olympiacos
Position	Point guard / shooting guard
League	GBL EuroLeague
Personal information
Born	(1996-08-23) August 23, 1996 (age 28) Richardson, Texas, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight	190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
High school	Berkner (Richardson, Texas)
College	Texas Tech (2014–2018)
NBA draft	2018: undrafted
Playing career	2018–present
Career history
2018–2019	Grand Rapids Drive
2019	Delaware Blue Coats
2019–2020	Igokea
2020–2021	Hapoel Haifa
2021–2022	Maccabi Tel Aviv
2022–2024	Žalgiris Kaunas
2024–present	Olympiacos
Career highlights and awards
LKL champion (2023) 2× King Mindaugas Cup winner (2023, 2024) King Mindaugas Cup MVP (2024) Greek Super Cup winner (2024) Bosnian League champion (2020) Bosnian League MVP (2020) All-Bosnian League Team (2020) Israeli League Cup winner (2021) All-Israeli Premier League Second Team (2021) Consensus second-team All-American (2018) First-team All-Big 12 (2018) Third-team All-Big 12 (2017)
Stats at Basketball Reference

Keenan Evans (born August 23, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for Olympiacos of the Greek Basketball League (GBL) and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball at Texas Tech University.

College career

A 6’3” point guard, after Evans starred at Lloyd V. Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas, he committed to Texas Tech to play for coach Tubby Smith.^[1] When Smith left Texas Tech to become head coach at Memphis, Evans stayed to play for Chris Beard, Smith's replacement.^[2]

As a junior, Evans averaged 15.4 points (7th in the Big 12) and 3 assists a game, was second in free throw percentage (.849) and ninth in field goal percentage (.464) in the Big 12, and was named third-team All-Big 12 Conference for the 2016–17 season.^[3][4]

As a senior in 2017–18, Evans emerged as the primary scoring option for the Red Raiders and led them to a top ten ranking during the season.^[5] He scored one of the most memorable baskets of the Red Raiders’ season as he hit a game-winner against in-State rival Texas on February in a game where he scored a career-high 38 points.^[6] Evans was named to the late-season watch lists for the Wooden Award^[7] and the Bob Cousy Award.^[8] For the season, he was averaged 17.6 points per game (2nd in the Big 12), and was 6th in field goal percentage (.471) and 7th in free throw percentage (.817).^[3]

Professional career

Grand Rapids Drive (2018–2019)

After going undrafted in the 2018 NBA draft, Evans signed a contract with the Golden State Warriors for their summer league team.^[9] He later signed a two-way contract with the Detroit Pistons.^[10] On January 15, 2019, Evans was waived by the Pistons, but was retained on the Drive roster.^[11]

Delaware Blue Coats (2019)

On January 22, 2019, Evans was traded to the Delaware Blue Coats along with the returning player rights to Chris Horton in exchange for the returning player rights to Shawn Long and Devondrick Walker.^[12]

Igokea (2019–2020)

On July 26, 2019, Evans signed a one-year contract for Igokea of the Adriatic League.^[13]

Hapoel Haifa (2020–2021)

In July 2020, he joined Hapoel Haifa of the Israel Basketball Premier League.^[14] In 2020–21 he was sixth in the Israel Basketball Premier League in points per game (18.7), fourth in assists per game (6.2), second in steals per game (2.0), and ninth in free throw percentage (85.5 per cent), while also leading the league in efficiency (25.7 PIR).^[15]

Maccabi Tel Aviv (2021–2022)

On July 6, 2021, Evans signed a one-year deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Basketball Premier League and the EuroLeague, with an option for two additional years.^[16][17] On July 12, 2022, Evans officially parted ways with the Israeli club.^[18]

Žalgiris Kaunas (2022–2024)

On July 12, 2022, Evans signed a two-year contract with Žalgiris Kaunas of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) and the EuroLeague.^[19][20] On December 23, 2022, Evans recorded a career-high 32 points, shooting 11-of-15 from the field, along with four rebounds, four assists and two steals for a 39 PIR in a 75–67 win over Bayern Munich. He was subsequently named EuroLeague Round 15 MVP. On January 5, 2023, in a 86-66 Euroleague win over Fenerbahce Istanbul, Evans suffered a torn Achilles tendon which sidelined him for the rest of the season.^[21] Evans returned on September 8, 2023, in a friendly against BC Lietkabelis, putting up four points and two assists in twenty minutes. On October 5, 2023, in his first EuroLeague game of the season, Evans scored a game-high 25 points, leading Žalgiris to a 82–79 win over Virtus Bologna.

On May 26, 2024, in the third game of the LKL semifinals against Lietkabelis, Evans suffered a patellar tendon rupture and was expected to be sidelined for six to eight months.^[22] In his absence, Žalgiris went on to lose the LKL Finals 3–1 to Rytas Vilnius.

Olympiacos (2024–present)

On July 6, 2024, Evans signed a three-year deal with Olympiacos of the Greek Basket League and the EuroLeague.^[23]

Career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	PIR	Performance Index Rating
Bold	Career high

EuroLeague

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG	PIR
2021–22	Maccabi	33	32	25.2	.442	.329	.879	2.5	3.5	1.2	.2	8.2	10.2
2022–23	Žalgiris	17	17	26.2	.506	.458	.813	3.2	3.7	1.0	.2	15.9	17.4
2023–24		34	34	27.4	.481	.435	.895	2.8	3.9	1.2	.1	17.3	18.3
Career		84	83	26.3	.476	.417	.872	2.7	3.7	1.2	.1	13.4	15.0

College

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2014–15	Texas Tech	32	3	18.2	.369	.302	.716	2.0	1.4	.8	.3	5.8
2015–16	Texas Tech	32	31	25.1	.412	.375	.756	2.9	2.9	1.0	.3	8.7
2016–17	Texas Tech	31	30	30.4	.464	.432	.849	2.8	3.0	1.0	.2	15.4
2017–18	Texas Tech	36	35	29.5	.471	.320	.817	3.0	3.2	1.1	.3	17.6
Career		131	99	25.9	.444	.360	.797	2.7	2.6	1.0	.3	12.0

Personal life

Evans is the son of Olympic high jumper Kenny Evans.^[1]

References

1. Murphree, Marcus (April 16, 2014). "Berkner star guard Keenan Evans signs with Texas Tech basketball". The Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on September 5, 2018. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
2. Engel, Mac (February 3, 2018). "Red Raiders finally have the winner they want". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Archived from the original on January 25, 2019. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
3. "Keenan Evans College Stats". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2018-02-12. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
4. Silva Jr., Carlos (October 12, 2017). "Smith, Evans third pair of Texas Tech teammates to earn preseason all-Big 12 honors". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Archived from the original on September 5, 2018. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
5. Baby, Ben (February 3, 2018). "Texas Tech's Keenan Evans is a problem, but so is the Red Raiders' not-so-secret weapon: depth". The Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on February 12, 2018. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
6. "Evans scores at buzzer, No. 10 Texas Tech beats Texas in OT". The Washington Post. February 1, 2018. Retrieved February 11, 2018.^{[dead link‍]}
7. Bonagura, Kyle (February 8, 2018). "Wooden Watch: Texas Tech's Keenan Evans merits attention". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on February 12, 2018. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
8. Dillon, Sean (February 5, 2018). "Texas Tech's Keenan Evans Named Bob Cousy Award Finalist". rock101.fm. Archived from the original on February 12, 2018. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
9. Graham, Mike (June 22, 2018). "Evans, Smith picked up for Summer League". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Archived from the original on June 25, 2018. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
10. "Keenan Evans, Detroit Pistons agree to two-way deal". Sportando. Retrieved July 8, 2018.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
11. "Keenan Evans: Let go by Pistons". CBSSports.com. January 15, 2019. Archived from the original on January 19, 2019. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
12. "Blue Coats Acquire Keenan Evans and Returning Player Rights to Chris Horton from Grand Rapids Drive". NBA G League. January 22, 2019. Archived from the original on January 23, 2019. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
13. "Igokea sign a 1-year deal with Keenan Evans". aba-liga.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
14. "Eurobasket". www.eurobasket.com. Archived from the original on 2023-09-11. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
15. "Israel basketball stats, results, box score, scout report and video online | Scouting4U". old.scouting4u.com. Archived from the original on 2022-01-13. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
16. Borghesan, Ennio Terrasi (July 6, 2021). "Maccabi announces signing of Keenan Evans". Sportando. Archived from the original on July 6, 2021. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
17. "Maccabi inks playmaker Evans". euroleague.net. July 6, 2021. Archived from the original on July 8, 2022. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
18. Maggi, Alessandro (July 12, 2022). "Maccabi Tel Aviv, Keenan Evans officially part ways". Sportando. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
19. "Zalgiris adds guard Keenan Evans to backcourt". zalgiris.lt. July 12, 2022. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
20. Skerletic, Dario (July 12, 2022). "Zalgiris Kaunas lands Keenan Evans". Sportando. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
21. "Zalgiris: Evans suffers torn Achilles". euroleaguebasketball.net. January 6, 2023. Archived from the original on June 11, 2023. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
22. Gillingham, Geoff (May 27, 2024). "Zalgiris star Keenan Evans out long term after knee surgery". EuroLeague. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
23. "Official: Olympiacos signs Keenan Evans". Sportando. July 6, 2024. Retrieved July 7, 2024.

External links

• EuroLeague profile
• Proballers.com profile
• RealGM.com profile
• College stats @ sports-reference.com
• Texas Tech Red Raiders bio
• Keenan Evans on Instagram