Sylvain Francisco

Sylvain Francisco (born 10 October 1997) is a French professional basketball player for Žalgiris Kaunas of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) and the EuroLeague. He also represents the French national team in international competition. Francisco holds both French and American citizenship.

Early life and career
Sylvain Francisco is of Angolan ethnicity, as his parents are from Angola. They left the country and moved to France, due to the country's civil war. Francisco, who was born in Créteil, France, grew up in the Paris area, along with eight siblings. He played youth club basketball with Paris Basket Racing, Villemomble Sports, and AL Roche-la-Molière.

He then pursued his secondary education in Florida, in the USA, in 2014. He played high school basketball at the Elev8 Sports Institute, in Delray Beach, during the 2014–15 season. He also played high school basketball with Liberty Christian Preparatory School, in Tavares, during the 2015–16 season, and at West Oaks Academy, in Orlando, during the 2016–17 season. After high school, Francisco got some offers to play college basketball from some NCAA Division I programs, but he opted instead to return to France to play professionally.

Professional career
Francisco began his pro club career with Levallois Metropolitans in the French men's basketball first division. At the end of the 2017–2018 season, he signed his first professional contract with the Levallois club. However, wanting to join the G-League and eventually the NBA, he did not show up to the club's training the following summer. He finally signed with Paris Basketball in the LNB Pro B in December 2018. After two seasons with Paris Basketball, he returned to the French first division by signing with the Chorale Roanne for the 2020–2021 season.

Francisco left Roanne in June 2021, and signed with the Spanish club Manresa in Liga Endesa, end of August 2022. In the summer of 2022, he participated in the NBA Summer League with the Milwaukee Bucks.

For the 2022–2023 season, Francisco signed with Peristeri of the Greek Basket League. In 31 Greek national domestic league games, he averaged 12.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.5 steals and 2.7 turnovers, playing around 28 minutes per contest. He also averaged 16.2 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game, in 9 games played in the European-wide secondary level FIBA Champions League's 2022–2023 season. On 29 June 2023, he parted ways with the Greek club.

On July 20, 2023, he signed with Bayern Munich of the German Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) and EuroLeague. On February 18, 2024, he won the BBL-Pokal with Bayern following a win in the final over Ratiopharm Ulm. Francisco was named the Final Four MVP.

On July 1, 2024, Francisco signed a two-year (1+1) deal with Žalgiris Kaunas of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) and the EuroLeague.

National team career
Francisco was a member of the junior French national teams. He played with France's junior national team at the 2016 FIBA U20 European Championship. On 24 February 2022, Francisco landed his first selection with the senior French national team, for the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers. He also represented France at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

EuroLeague

 * style="text-align:left;"| 2023–24
 * style="text-align:left;"| Bayern Munich
 * 33 || 0 || 19.3 || .387 || .354 || .814 || 1.7 || 3.2 || .7 || — || 10.6 || 10.7
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * style="text-align:center;" colspan=2| Career
 * 33 || 0 || 19.3 || .387 || .354 || .814 || 1.7 || 3.2 || .7 || — || 10.6 || 10.7
 * 33 || 0 || 19.3 || .387 || .354 || .814 || 1.7 || 3.2 || .7 || — || 10.6 || 10.7