Elvar Már Friðriksson

Elvar Már Friðriksson (born 11 November 1994) is an Icelandic professional basketball player for PAOK Thessaloniki of the Greek Basket League and the Basketball Champions League. He is also a member of the Icelandic national basketball team. He has twice been named to the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First team as a member of Njarðvík.[1] In 2020, he won the Swedish championship with Borås Basket. In 2021, he was named the Lithuanian Basketball League MVP after leading the league in assists.[2] He was named the Icelandic Male Basketball Player of the Year in 2021 and 2022.

This is an Icelandic name. The last name is patronymic, not a family name; this person is referred to by the given name Elvar.

Elvar Már Friðriksson
Elvar Már in 2016 with Iceland
No. 10 – PAOK Thessaloniki
PositionPoint guard
LeagueGreek Basket League
BCL
Personal information
Born (1994-11-11) 11 November 1994
NationalityIcelandic
Listed height183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Listed weight78 kg (172 lb)
Career information
College
Playing career2011–present
Career history
2011–2015Njarðvík
2018Denain Voltaire
2018–2019Njarðvík
2019–2020Borås Basket
2020–2021BC Šiauliai
2021–2022Antwerp Giants
2022Derthona Basket
2022–2023Rytas Vilnius
2023–presentPAOK Thessaloniki
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  Iceland
Games of the Small States of Europe
Bronze medal – third place2013 LuxembourgTeam
Silver medal – second place2015 ReykjavíkTeam
Bronze medal – third place2019 BudvaTeam

Playing career

First seasons with Njarðvík

Elvar started his playing career with Njarðvík in the Icelandic top-tier Úrvalsdeild karla in 2011, averaging 11.5 points and 4.6 assists during the regular season. He upped his averages to 19.1 points and 4.7 assist the following season and to 21.5 points and 7.2 assists in 2013–2014, being named to the Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First team both times.[3]

Long Island University

Following his strong performance, Elvar agreed to join Long Island University where he played alongside Martin Hermannsson[4] with the LIU Sharks basketball team.[5]

Barry University

The following season, Elvar transferred to Barry University[6][7][8] where he played until 2018.[9] In March 2018, he was selected as the Sunshine State Conference Player of the Year for the second consecutive year after averaging 20.0 points and 7.3 assists per game.[10][11]

Denain Voltaire

In June 2018, Elvar Már joined Denain Voltaire of the LNB Pro B.[12] On 5 November 2018, it was reported that Denain Voltaire planned to release him to make room on the roster for another signing.[13]

Back to Njarðvík

After being released by Denain during a roster overhaul,[14] Elvar signed with Njarðvík on 15 November 2018.[15][16] On 13 December 2018, Elvar posted a triple-double in a victory against Breiðablik with 40 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists.[17] During the regular season, he averaged 23.1 points and 5.3 assists per game. In the playoffs, the second seeded Njarðvík was unexpectedly knocked out in the first round by ÍR.[18]

Borås Basket

In June 2019, Elvar signed with Borås Basket of the Swedish Basketligan.[19] In March 2020, he won the Swedish championship after the Swedish Basketball Federation decided to cancel the rest of the 2019–20 season due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country and award Borås the title as the top team at the time of the cancelation.[20] After the season he was named the Basketligan Guard of the Year.[21]

BC Šiauliai

On 26 July 2020, Elvar signed with BC Šiauliai of the LKL.[22] He was named the Player of the Month for the games played in November 2020 after averaging 18.5 points and 9.5 assists per game.[23] On 21 April 2021, he had 33 points and 11 assists, while shooting a perfect 9-of-9 from the field and 10-of-10 from the free throw line, in a 103–90 victory against BC Pieno žvaigždės.[24] On 7 May, he had 15 points and a season high 17 assists in a double overtime loss against BC Neptūnas.[25][26] Following the regular season, where he led the league in assists, he was named the Lithuanian Basketball League MVP.[2]

Antwerp Giants

On 21 July 2021, Elvar signed with Antwerp Giants of the Belgian-Dutch BNXT League.[27] On 16 December 2021, it was announced that he had been named the Icelandic Male Basketball Player of the Year.[28] In February 2021, Antwerp refused an offer from Galatasaray for Elvar.[29][30]

Derthona Basket

On 3 April 2022, Elvar joined Derthona Basket.[31]

Rytas Vilnius

On 11 August 2022, Elvar signed with Rytas Vilnius.[32] In December 2022, he was named the Icelandic Male Basketball Player of the Year for the second straight year.[33] He helped the team to the LKL finals where they lost to BC Žalgiris.

PAOK Thessaloniki

On 10 July 2023, Elvar signed with PAOK of the Greek Basket League and the Basketball Champions League. On October 2023 he became only the third player to achieve a triple double in the history of the Basketball Champions League. He did so in a game against Galatasaray in the first game of the group stages when he had 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists despite battling illness that caused him to throw up before the game and during halftime.[34] He also became the first and so far only player in the competition's history to achieve this feature in an away match.[35]

National team career

Elvar played 21 games with Iceland's junior national teams from 2010 to 2013.[36][37]

His first game with the senior national team was in 2013[38] and he was a member of Iceland's team in Eurobasket 2015 and Eurobasket 2017.[39][40] Elvar was a member Iceland's team in then Games of the Small States of Europe in 2013 and 2015.[41][42]

On 20 February 2021, he scored a game winning three pointer with 0.7 seconds left in a 86–84 victory against Luxembourg in the final game of the first round of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup Pre-Qualifiers.[43]

On 13 August 2021, Elvar scored a game high 30 points in a 91–70 victory against Denmark in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup Pre-Qualifiers.[44]

Personal life

Elvar is the son of former Icelandic national team player Friðrik Ragnarsson and brother of former Úrvalsdeild point guard Ragnar Helgi Friðriksson.[45][46]

References
  1. "Úrvalslið ársins í úrvalsdeild karla". kki.is (in Icelandic). Icelandic Basketball Association. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  2. Runólfur Trausti Þórhallsson (13 May 2021). "Elvar Már valinn mikilvægastur í Litháen". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  3. "Elvar Már Friðriksson". kki.is (in Icelandic). Icelandic Basketball Association. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  4. "Elvar samdi við skóla í Brooklyn". Víkurfréttir (in Icelandic). 18 November 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  5. Ingvi Þór Sæmundsson (24 December 2014). "Bestir í Brooklyn: Svokallað jarðskjálftatroð". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  6. Jónsson, Óskar Ófeigur (23 February 2017). "Elvar frábær og Barry varð deildarmeistari - Sjáið Elvar fagna í klefanum í nótt". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  7. Jónsson, Óskar Ófeigur. "Elvar Már með frábæran árangur innan sem utan vallar í Miami". Vísir (in Icelandic). Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  8. Gunnarsson, Henry Birgir (3 March 2017). "Ég ligg ekki bara í sólbaði". Vísir (in Icelandic). Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  9. Kristinn Páll Teitsson (7 May 2018). "Elvar Már: Veit af áhuga í Frakklandi". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  10. "2017-18 SSC Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams". sunshinestateconference.com. 3 March 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  11. Ástrós Ýr Eggertsdóttir (2 March 2018). "Elvar Már í sögubækur bandaríska háskólaboltans". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  12. Ástrós Ýr Eggertsdóttir (16 June 2018). "Elvar Már í atvinnumennsku í Frakklandi". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  13. Sindri Sverrisson (5 November 2018). "Kristófer og Elvar á leið til Íslands". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  14. "Elvar staðfestur í Njarðvík". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). 15 November 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  15. "Elvar Már kominn heim". Njarðvík (in Icelandic). 15 November 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  16. "Elvar Már: Sé ekki eftir að hafa breytt til og yfirgefið LIU". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). 31 December 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  17. Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson (14 December 2018). "Fyrsti Íslendingurinn sem nær 40 stiga þrennu í úrvalsdeildinni". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  18. Víkingur Goði Sigurðarson (1 April 2019). "Umfjöllun og viðtöl: Njarðvík - ÍR 74-86 - ÍR-ingar fullkomnuðu endurkomuna". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  19. "Elvar til Borås í Svíþjóð". RÚV (in Icelandic). 25 June 2019. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  20. Óskar Ófeigur Jónsson (13 March 2020). "Elvar Már og félagar krýndir sænskir meistarar eftir að tímabilinu var aflýst". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  21. Ingvi Þór Sæmundsson (2 April 2020). "Elvar Már valinn bakvörður ársins í Svíþjóð". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  22. Davíð Eldur (25 July 2020). "Elvar Már til BC Šiauliai". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  23. Ingvi Þór Sæmundsson (30 November 2020). "Elvar Már leikmaður mánaðarins í Litáen". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  24. Davíð Eldur (21 April 2021). "Elvar Már stórkostlegur í Litháen – 33 stig og 12 stoðsendingar með fullkomna skotnýtingu". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  25. "Frábær í tvíframlengdum leik". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 7 May 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  26. Runólfur Trausti Þórhallsson (7 May 2021). "Elvar Már gaf 17 stoðsendingar í grátlegu tapi". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  27. Davíð Eldur (20 July 2021). "Elvar Már til Telenet Giants". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  28. Aron Guðmundsson (16 December 2021). "Sara Rún og Elvar Már eru körfuknattleiksfólk ársins". Fréttablaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  29. Ingvi Þór Sæmundsson (9 February 2022). "Galatasary bauð í Elvar Má". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  30. ""Galatasaray" panoro buvusio "Šiaulių" gynėjo, bet belgai jo nepaleidžia". Krepsinis (in Lithuanian). 11 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  31. Atli Arason (3 April 2022). "Elvar Már er genginn til liðs við Derthona". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  32. Elías Karl Guðmundsson (11 August 2022). "Elvar semur við litháísku meistarana". Karfan.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  33. "Sara og Elvar körfuknattleiksfólk ársins". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 14 December 2022. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  34. Stefán Árni Pálsson (25 October 2023). "Elvar Már ældi og var með svima í leiknum sögulega". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  35. "Ο Elvar Fridrikkson στον ΠΑΟΚ mateco". paokbc.gr (in Greek). PAOK B.C. 10 July 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  36. Unglinga- og drengjalandslið Íslands
  37. U-21
  38. Kristinn Friðriksson (18 December 2013). "Á æfingum alast meistarar". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  39. Runólfur Trausti Þórhallsson (30 August 2017). "Elvar Már: "Ég var Logi og hann var Jón Arnór"". RÚV (in Icelandic). Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  40. "KKÍ | A landslið". kki.is. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  41. Landsliðshópar: Smáþjóðaleikar 2013
  42. A-landslið karla fyrir Smáþjóðaleikana 2015
  43. Einar Örn Jónsson (20 February 2021). "Elvar Már tryggði Íslandi sigur á Lúxemborg". RÚV (in Icelandic). Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  44. "Iceland v Denmark boxscore - FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Pre-Qualifiers 2021 - 13 August - FIBA.basketball". Fiba.basketball. FIBA. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  45. Guðmundur Hilmarsson (8 January 2014). "Get bætt mig í varnarleiknum". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  46. Besta byrjunarlið Njarðvíkinga


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