Mateusz Ponitka

Mateusz Ponitka (born August 29, 1993) is a Polish professional basketball player who last played for Partizan Mozzart Bet of the Serbian KLS, the Adriatic League and the EuroLeague. He also represents the senior Polish national basketball team in international competitions. Standing at a height of 6ft 6in, he plays at the small forward position.

His brother Marcel Ponitka is also a professional basketball player who capped for the Polish national team.

Early years
Ponitka started playing basketball in UKS Kasprowiczanka Ostrow Wielkopolski, before moving in 2009 to AZS Warsaw University of Technology. In his first season as a professional player, he appeared in 27 games of the Polish 2nd-tier League, averaging 7.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 18 minutes per game. He also appeared in four games of the Polish Cup, averaging 9 points per game. In September 2010, Ponitka took part in the Basketball Without Borders camp, held in Barcelona. He was named the MVP of the camp.

In the 2010–11 season, he had bigger role in the team, which reflected on his stats. In April 2011, he took part in Nike Hoop Summit held in Portland, Oregon. He was the leading scorer of the World Select Team with 17 points in a 92–80 loss to the USA Team. Over the season, he averaged 11.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals over 34 games. His team eventually won the championship, this way promoting to the Polish League in the following season.

In the 2011–12 season, due to his good performances, he was voted for the Polish League All-Star game with the most votes. In the game, he was the third scorer in his team with 13 points. In his final season with AZS Warsaw University of Technology, he averaged 13.6 points and 4.6 rebounds.

Asseco Prokom
On March 27, 2012, Ponitka signed a three-year deal with the Polish team Asseco Prokom. He also had an option to leave the team after two seasons. In the new team, his minutes were very limited, and the player had the averages of 2.6 points and 1.4 rebounds for the rest of the season. However, his team won the Polish League championship, by defeating Trefl Sopot with 78-67 in the final series. In the 2012–13 season, his role in the team increased, as he averaged 8.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game over the season. He also played in the EuroLeague, averaging 8.8 points and 3.5 rebounds over 10 games.

Telenet Oostende
On August 4, 2013, he signed a three-year contract with the Belgian team Telenet Oostende. In the 2013–14 and 2014-15 season his team won the Belgian League championship.

He went undrafted in the 2015 NBA draft.

Zielona Góra
On August 4, 2015, he signed a contract with the Polish team Stelmet Zielona Góra. Ponitka was named the EuroCup Rising Star of the 2015–16 season.

Pınar Karşıyaka
On August 8, 2016, he signed a two-year deal with Turkish club Pınar Karşıyaka.

Lokomotiv Kuban
On July 13, 2018, he signed with Russian club Lokomotiv Kuban.

Zenit
On July 4, 2019, Ponitka signed a two-year contract with BC Zenit Saint Petersburg. In his debut season with the club, Ponitka averaged 9.1 points and 4.6 rebounds over 18 EuroLeague games, in a season that was cut short due to COVID-19 pandemic. In second season with the club, he averaged 8.4 points, career-high 3.2 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game.

Ponitka stayed for 2021–22 season with the club as well. Although his playing time stayed the same, his scoring dropped by half almost and he finished the EuroLeague season with averages of 4.6 points, 2.6 assists and 5.2 rebounds over 20 games.

Pallacanestro Reggiana
On August 17, 2022, he signed a three-month deal with an option until the end of the season with Reggio Emilia of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). However, he didn't stay more than a month with the club.

Panathinaikos
On September 23, 2022, Ponitka signed a one-year deal with Panathinaikos of the Greek Basket League and the EuroLeague. In a total of 27 EuroLeague games (6 starts), he averaged 8.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.9 turnovers, playing around 25 minutes per contest. Additionally, in 29 domestic league matches, he averaged 9.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1 steal and 2.4 turnovers, playing around 23 minutes per contest. On July 5, 2023, he parted ways with the Greek club.

Partizan
On July 13, 2023, Ponitka signed a two-year contract with the Serbian powerhouse Partizan Belgrade. Over 2023–24 season, Ponitka averaged career-low 2.4 points and 2.2 rebounds over 26 EuroLeague games. The season was deemed to be unsucessful for Partizan as they finished the season without lifting any trophy. On June 29, 2024, he announced he was parting ways with Partizan.

National team career
Ponitka was part of the Poland U-17 national basketball team which took the silver medal at the 2010 FIBA Under-17 World Championship held in Germany. In the final game he scored 14 points against the United States, but his team lost by huge margin, 111–80. He played against athletes like Bradley Beal, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, James Michael McAdoo, Andre Drummond, Quinn Cook, Marquis Teague and others. He was named to the All-Tournament Team.

In 2011, he was part of the U-18 team which took sixth place at the 2011 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship held in Poland. Over 9 tournament games, he averaged 15.3 points and 7.6 assists per game.

He officially debuted for the senior national team on August 3, 2012, in the friendly game against Montenegro. Even he played for nearly 23 minutes, he scored just 4 points. He was a member of the team at the 2013 FIBA EuroBasket held in Slovenia. He averaged 3.6 points and 1.4 rebounds over 5 tournament games.

He represented the Polish national team at the 2015 FIBA EuroBasket and 2017 FIBA EuroBasket. He also participated in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, where he scored 26 points against China. Down 1, Ponitka came up with a key steal on Chinese star Zhou Qi with 3 seconds left, being fouled in the process and sending the game into overtime, where Poland would later triumph in an upset 79-76 overtime win over the hosts.

Ponitka played at EuroBasket 2017, where he averaged 12.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, while Poland did not advance past the preliminary round.

Ponitka returned at EuroBasket 2022 for Poland. In the quarter-finals against heavily favoured Slovenia, he guided Poland to a 90–87 upset win to reach the first semifinals in 51 years. Ponitka finished with 26 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists to become the fourth player in EuroBasket history to record a triple-double.

EuroLeague

 * style="text-align:left;"| 2012–13
 * style="text-align:left;"| Gdynia
 * 10 || 4 || 22.2 || .486 || .323 || .381 || 3.5 || .8 || 1.0 || .0 || 8.8 || 7.8
 * style="text-align:left;"| 2015–16
 * style="text-align:left;"| Zielona Góra
 * 10 || 10 || 31.5 || .505 || .250 || .676 || 7.9 || 2.2 || 1.1 || .2 || 12.0 || 17.9
 * style="text-align:left;"| 2019–20
 * style="text-align:left;" rowspan="3"| Zenit
 * 18 || 15 || 24.3 || .492 || .324 || .708 || 4.6 || 1.6 || .8 || .3 || 9.1 || 12.2
 * style="text-align:left;"| 2020–21
 * 34 || 26 || 26.0 || .484 || .306 || .785 || 5.2 || 3.2 || 1.0 || .1 || 8.4 || 14.1
 * style="text-align:left;"| 2021–22
 * 20 || 18 || 25.7 || .414 || .269 || .583 || 5.2 || 2.6 || .6 || .1 || 4.6 || 9.6
 * style="text-align:left;"| 2022–23
 * style="text-align:left;"| Panathinaikos
 * 27 || 6 || 25.2 || .434 || .372 || .802 || 5.2 || 2.4 || 1.1 || .1 || 8.4 || 13.0
 * style="text-align:left;"| 2023–24
 * style="text-align:left;"| Partizan
 * 26 || 14 || 13.9 || .410 || .238 || .889 || 2.2 || .7 || .4 || .0 || 2.4 || 3.1
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * colspan=2 align=center | Career
 * 145 || 93 || 23.5 || .465 || .308 || .734 || 4.7 || 2.1 || .9 || .1 || 7.2 || 10.9
 * style="text-align:left;"| 2023–24
 * style="text-align:left;"| Partizan
 * 26 || 14 || 13.9 || .410 || .238 || .889 || 2.2 || .7 || .4 || .0 || 2.4 || 3.1
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * colspan=2 align=center | Career
 * 145 || 93 || 23.5 || .465 || .308 || .734 || 4.7 || 2.1 || .9 || .1 || 7.2 || 10.9
 * 145 || 93 || 23.5 || .465 || .308 || .734 || 4.7 || 2.1 || .9 || .1 || 7.2 || 10.9