Sam Sessoms, the new leader of La Rochelle

After the extensions of Mathéo Leray et Jubrile Belo, Stade Rochelais has its first recruit of the off-season. This is the American leader Sam Sessoms (1.82 m, 24 years old), who comes straight from Romania.

After a five-year NCAA career at three different colleges – Binghamton Bearcats, Penn State Nittany Lions and Coppin State Eagles where he averaged 20.5 points on 50% shooting and 34% on 3-pointers, 4.3 rebounds and 5 assists during the 2022-2023 season – the creative point guard launched into Europe via the Kosovar championship (Vëllaznimi Gjakove), where he averaged 19.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.2 assists for 18 games. evaluation in 18 matches, before ending the season with Craiova in Romania (24 points on average over 5 matches).

It remains to be seen whether this leading scorer will manage to reproduce his good performances in a much more physical championship.

The coach’s reaction Julien Cortey : “Sam completely matches the profile of a scoring leader that we were looking for. He has a solid university education and he had a great first professional season shared between Romania and Kosovo. For this first professional season, he showed his ability to score, notably with a large percentage behind the three-point line. He is a small point guard who can be a real offensive leader. On top of that, it corresponds to everything we want in terms of human values. He’s a great guy who’s here for a collective project.”

Sam Sessoms’ reaction : “I decided to join Stade Rochelais because it is an opportunity for me to measure myself against some of the best players in Europe. Everyone knows how tough the French championship is. I can’t wait to get started and take on this new challenge by showing what I am capable of by measuring myself against the best. I can’t even explain how happy I am for the opportunity the club is giving me. I can’t wait to join the Yellow and Black family.”