Eric Maynor is an American professional basketball player, a guard who played for BC Nizhny Novgorod in the 2015/2016 season. Before joining the Nizhny Novgorod club, he played 290 games in the NBA.[2]

Career before Nizhny Novgorod

Maynor graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2009 with a degree in sports management. During his college years he became one of the best players in the university team's history, and his jersey number 3 was retired.[2] In the summer of 2009 he was selected by the Utah Jazz with the twentieth pick of the NBA draft; in December of that year he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder.[2] With the Thunder, Maynor reached the NBA Finals in the 2012/2013 season, but in early 2012 he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.[2][3] After Oklahoma City he spent stretches with Portland, Washington, and Philadelphia. In January 2015 he moved to Europe, joining the Italian club Varese, where he played 15 games, averaging 13.2 points and 7.4 assists per game.[2]

The season in Nizhny Novgorod

In July 2015, Maynor (height 191 cm, age 28 at the time) signed a one-season contract with BC Nizhny Novgorod.[2] The club's head coach, Ainars Bagatskis, described him as a player capable of scoring, passing, and running the offense all at once, and expected that together with Dmitry Khvostov, Maynor would form a powerful playmaking duo.[2]

However, in the very first game of the VTB United League championship, against VEF, Maynor tore the cruciate ligaments in his left knee.[3][4] The surgery was performed in the United States, and recovery took at least six months — the player could not return to the court before April 2016.[4] As a result, Maynor managed to play only one game in the VTB United League for Nizhny Novgorod.[3] After his return to action, his addition to the roster became possible due to the departure of Kaspars Bērziņš from the team.[1] In March 2016, BC Nizhny Novgorod took part in the quarterfinals of the EuroCup, where Maynor was listed on the team's roster.[1]

Sources

  1. RIA Novosti — Eric Maynor — biography, personal life, and career
  2. NIA Nizhny Novgorod — Former NBA guard Eric Maynor signs contract with BC Nizhny Novgorod. Nizhny Novgorod News (archive)
  3. Vremya N — Basketball player Eric Maynor will not play for Nizhny Novgorod for half a year due to injury (archive)
  4. V gorode N — BC Nizhny Novgorod player Eric Maynor out for half a year due to knee injury