Pons was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and spent three and a half years with his biological mom. He was born in Port-au-Prince, which is the capital, but his hometown was Cité Soleil.[citation needed] It’s one of the biggest areas in Haiti and is also the poorest part of Haiti.[citation needed] His mom, by law, had to send him to the orphanage because she couldn’t take care of him, and he was pretty sick at the time.[citation needed]
After close to a year in the orphanage, Yves was taken in by his adopted parents, Babeth and Jean-Claude Pons, who lived in France.[1] Pons attended French sports institute INSEP, in Paris, and played for its affiliated club Centre Fédéral de Basket-ball in the Nationale Masculine 1 (NM1), the amateur third-tier division of French basketball.[2]
Recruiting
Pons decided to play college basketball in the United States for Tennessee under head coach Rick Barnes, after being recruited by assistant coach Michael Schwartz. He chose the Volunteers over offers from Florida and Texas Tech.[3] He became the first four-star recruit to play for Barnes at Tennessee and the first French men's basketball player in school history.[4]
Pons suffered an ankle injury in his Tennessee debut, a win over Presbyterian, and was limited to four minutes.[5] In his freshman season, he played 24 games off the bench and averaged 5.2 minutes per game. As a sophomore, Pons scored a season-high 10 points against Eastern Kentucky in his first career start.[6] In February 2019, Pons suffered a facial fracture in a collision in practice and underwent a corrective procedure.[7] Pons averaged 2.2 points per game as a sophomore, but put in a lot of work on his game after the season.[8] He saw considerable improvement as a junior, scoring a career-high 15 points in his season debut versus UNC Asheville and eclipsing that mark in his next game after scoring 19 versus Murray State.[9] At the conclusion of the regular season, Pons was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year.[10] As a junior, Pons averaged 10.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game.[11] Following the season, he declared for the 2020 NBA draft.[12] On August 3, Pons announced he was returning to Tennessee for his senior season.[13]
Professional career
Memphis Grizzlies (2021–2022)
After going undrafted in the 2021 NBA draft, Pons joined the Memphis Grizzlies for the 2021 NBA Summer League.[14] On August 10, 2021, he signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Grizzlies,[15] which was subsequently turned into a two-way contract. Under the terms of the deal, he split time with the Grizzlies and their NBA G League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle.[16] Pons was transferred to the Hustle on January 30, 2022.[17] On February 6, he was ruled out due to a thigh injury, and missed several games.[18]
.jpg)
