ESSM Le Portel

Étoile Sportive Saint-Michel Le Portel Côte d'Opale, commonly known as ESSM Le Portel or simply Le Portel, is a professional basketball team based in Le Portel, France. The team currently plays in the Pro A, the first tier in France.

ESSM Le Portel
Leagues	Pro A
Founded	1931; 94 years ago (1931)
History	ESSM Le Portel (1931–present)
Arena	Le Chaudron
Capacity	3,500
Location	Le Portel, France
Team colors	Green, Dark Grey, White
Head coach	Eric Girard
Website	essm-basket.fr
Home Away

History

In the 2014–15 season, ESSM had a historic run to the Coupe de France Final. They beat Pro A teams Le Mans, Le Havre, ASVEL and reigning French champion Limoges CSP to qualify for their first cup final ever. In the Final they lost 74–87 to SIG Strasbourg.

In the 2015–16 season, Le Portel won the Pro B play-offs which gained the team promotion to the LNB Pro A.^[1] In the first Pro A season of the club, they reached the playoffs after they captured the eight-seed. In the following 2017–18 season, Le Portel made its European debut in the FIBA Europe Cup. In this competition, the team reached the quarter-finals, where it lost to Bakken Bears.

Arenas

Le Chaudron, the home arena of ESSM since 2015

• Georges Carpentier (2003–2007)
• Salle Damrémont (2007–2013)
• Lycée Giraux-Sannier (2013–2015)
• Le Chaudron (2015–present)

Honours

• Coupe de France:
  • Runners-up (1): 2014–15

European record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away
2017–18	FIBA Europe Cup	QR2	Bnei Herzliya	74–55	74–74
		RS	Donar	60–49	77–72
			Bosna	101–51	66–86
			Antwerp Giants	94–79	70–73
		SR	İstanbul BB	86–49	80–83
			Nizhny Novgorod	79–72	57–76
			Kataja	90–68	77–82
		R16	Dinamo Sassari	100–81	72–55
		QF	Bakken Bears	86–80	76–62

Season by season

Former logo of the team (2007–2015)

Season	Tier	League	Pos.	W–L	French Cup	European competitions
2013–14	2	Pro B	5th		Round of 32
2014–15	2	Pro B	9th		Runner-up
2015–16	2	Pro B	2nd		Round of 32
2016–17	1	Pro A	8th	19–17	Quarterfinalist
2017–18	1	Pro A	11th	16–18	Round of 16	4 FIBA Europe Cup	QF	14–1–3
2018–19	1	Pro A	16th	10–24	Round of 16
2019–20	1	Pro A	18th1	4–201	Round of 64
2020–21	1	Pro A	13th	13–21	Round of 32
2021–22	1	Pro A	14th	13–21	Round of 64
2022–23	1	Pro A	12th	15–19	Round of 16
2023–24	1	Pro A	8th	17–17	Quarterfinalist

^1 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.

Players

Current roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

ESSM Le Portel roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age PG 1 Burns, Deondre 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 28 – (1997-01-16)16 January 1997 G 2 Ebunangombe, Christopher 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 18 – (2007-07-26)26 July 2007 PG 3 Klassen, Marek 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 33 – (1992-06-11)11 June 1992 G 4 Gholston, Deandre 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 25 – (2000-07-08)8 July 2000 G/F 5 Konaté, Lahaou 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 33 – (1991-11-17)17 November 1991 F 7 Diawara, Digue 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 26 – (1998-10-03)3 October 1998 G 8 Stanley, Cassius 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 25 – (1999-08-18)18 August 1999 G/F 10 Esso Essis, Jess 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 19 – (2005-08-11)11 August 2005 F/C 11 Boyer, Mathieu 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 29 – (1995-10-22)22 October 1995 G 15 Kelly, C.J. 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 27 – (1998-04-14)14 April 1998 F/C 16 Levarity, Aaron 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 28 – (1997-04-16)16 April 1997 C 19 Le Meut, Izan 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 21 – (2004-05-27)27 May 2004 PF 23 Fevrier, Ivan 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 26 – (1999-02-08)8 February 1999 F/C 24 Nunge, Jack 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in) 26 – (1999-02-20)20 February 1999 G 66 Zoriks, Kristers 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 27 – (1998-05-25)25 May 1998 SG Fischer, Lucas 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 20 – (2004-08-01)1 August 2004	Head coach Eric Girard Assistant coach(es) Arnaud Ricoux Karim Diop Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: July 5, 2025

Notable players

See also: Category:ESSM Le Portel players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Criteria
To appear in this section a player must have either: Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

• Devin Davis
• Jakim Donaldson
• Shawn Huff
• Edon Maxhuni