The EuroLeague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament has developed into one of the world's most prestigious stops for future stars in basketball. From 2003 onwards, more and more players have used the ANGT to showcase their talents at a young age and gain experience in international club competition. One player who showed via the ANGT that his future would be bright is Livio Jean-Charles, who carried U18 INSEP Paris (which would later be known as CFBB Paris) to the ANGT crown in 2010.
ANGT alumni: Livio Jean-Charles
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The 2009-10 campaign was the first of two for Jean-Charles in the ANGT. All told, he averaged 16.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.5 rebounds in 17 games. His 276 total points rank seventh all-time in ANGT history.
INSEP played at the 2009-10 ANGT Belgrade qualifier and won its first four games before losing to two-time reigning U18 continental champion U18 FMP Belgrade in the first-place game 77-69. Jean-Charles was limited to 7 points and 8 rebounds and finished the tournament averaging 10.1 points and 5.8 rebounds. INSEP's performance was impressive enough that it was given a wildcard for the 2010 ANGT Finals played alongside the EuroLeague Final Four in Paris. The native of Cayenne in French Guiana shined for the French side with 13 points and 3 rebounds in the opening loss to U18 Union Olimpija. He followed with 17 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in a win over U18 Cajasol and 20 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in beating U18 Zalgiris Kaunas. INSEP finished in a three-way tie and reached the ANGT Championship Game via a tiebreaker. There it would meet up again with FMP. After losing in Belgrade, Jean-Charles tallied 15 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists as INSEP won 83-73 for the team’s first continental trophy.
In the 2010-11 ANGT Belgrade qualifier, Jean-Charles's numbers jumped to 20.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.3 steals for an index rating of 23.1. But the team finished only third, losing to U18 Crvena Zvezda and FMP. INSEP was invited back to the ANGT Finals at the 2011 EuroLeague Final Four in Barcelona with a wildcard and Jean-Charles stepped up his performance with 22.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1 steal and 0.7 blocks for an index rating of 24.3. But INSEP lost to eventual champion U18 KK Zagreb and FMP in the group phase.
The 2.05-meter forward joined ASVEL in 2011 and returned to the European stage straight away, playing 10 games in the 7DAYS EuroCup in 2011-12, during which he averaged 2.4 points and 1.5 rebounds. Jean-Charles, who helped France win the silver medal at the FIBA U20 European Championship 2012, suffered a torn ACL at the 2013 U20 European Championship and missed the entire 2013-14 season. He returned in 2014 and averaged 2.2 points and 2.2 rebounds in the EuroCup and 5.1 points and 3.7 rebounds in the French league. Those numbers increased to 6.4 points and 4.7 rebounds in 2015-16.
Jean-Charles, who had been selected by San Antonio in the first round of the 2013 NBA Draft, started the 2016-17 season in the D-League with the Spurs' farm team before finishing the season with ASVEL. He returned to Austin for the start of the 2017-18 campaign and ended it with Spanish side Unicaja Malaga. Jean-Charles returned to the European stage in 2018-19, playing again in the EuroCup with ASVEL and averaging 5.3 points and 2.6 rebounds in helping the team reach the quarterfinals.
Jean-Charles went into the 2019-20 season at age 26 and began to show the promise from when he starred in winning the ANGT title, making his EuroLeague debut with ASVEL. He picked up 10 points and 5 rebounds in his first game against Olympiacos Piraeus. In the first half of November, Jean-Charles had his best stretch as he poured in 20 points with a 24 index rating in Round 6 at Valencia Basket and tallied 20 points and a 28 index rating in Round 8 at Crvena Zvezda. In 27 games for the season - 19 of them as a starter - Jean-Charles averaged 9.1 points and 3.7 rebounds with an average index rating of 8.9. Next season Jean-Charles will be back in the EuroLeague, but in different colors after signing a multi-year deal with Olympiacos Piraeus.