Siena freshman Andres Amon during the university’s annual court dedication on Thursday, July 30, 2026, at St. Anne Institute in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco/Times Union)
Jim Franco/Times Union
Siena freshman Andres Amon during the university’s annual court dedication on Thursday, July 30, 2026, at St. Anne Institute in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco/Times Union)
Jim Franco/Times Union
Siena freshman Andres Amon during the university’s annual court dedication on Thursday, July 30, 2026, at St. Anne Institute in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco/Times Union)
Jim Franco/Times Union
Siena freshman Andres Amon during the university’s annual court dedication on Thursday, July 30, 2026, at St. Anne Institute in Albany, NY. (Jim Franco/Times Union)
Jim Franco/Times Union
ALBANY — Proud owner of an international bronze medal, Spanish freshman center Andres Amon arrived in New York a week ago to join the Siena men’s basketball program.
He had just helped Spain beat France 65-54 on July 19 to win the third-place game at the FIBA U20 EuroBasket in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Amon had 11 points and five rebounds in the victory.
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“That was, like, one of the best experiences I’ve had all my life in basketball,” Amon said Thursday.
It’s a career that’s just beginning. Amon, 18, was the youngest player on Spain’s roster and one of the youngest in the entire tournament.
“I mean, I’ve played basketball all my life, but since I grew tall and muscular really late, I never got selected to a competitive team,” he said.
Hitting a growth spurt two years ago, Amon sprouted from 6-foot-8 to his current 7-1. He joined Movistar Estudiantes, a top club in his hometown of Madrid. He quickly climbed through the program and was promoted to the Estudiantes professional team in Spain’s second-tier division for a few games last season.
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Siena assistant coach Matt Blue, hired by first-year head coach Nevada Smith, accompanied Amon to Slovenia. He watched Amon play in the first three games of the EuroBasket tournament.
“He’s kind of unique,” Blue said, “because he’s only been playing for a couple of years, the sky’s the limit for him. He’s got huge potential.”
Blue said he sat with NBA scouts in Slovenia who said, “Oh man, we love your guy. We know he’s young and he’s playing 12 or 15 minutes, but he’s going to be really good.”
Later in the tournament, Amon played only three minutes in a quarterfinal victory over Germany and never got into a semifinal defeat against Serbia. However, he sparked Spain to the bronze-medal win over France.
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“I didn’t expect to play in that game, honestly,” Amon said. “And, then, I got subbed in, and I just played hard, did what I know, like, rebounding, play hard, finishing around the rim, and things went pretty well.”
He averaged 5.5 points and 4.5 rebounds for the tournament.
Then an assistant coach at Loyola (Md.), Blue first watched Amon compete at the 2025 NBA Academy Games in Atlanta, a showcase for international prospects. Blue worked for the NBA Global Academy for seven years.
Amon returned to Spain and averaged 10.9 points and 9.6 rebounds in the amateur third division last season before his short professional stint.
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Smith, who knows Amon’s agents, and Blue pursued the Spaniard through their international contacts and signed him June 2. Smith said Amon is Siena’s best NBA prospect.
“He’s a legit 7-1,” Smith said. “Moves way better than most 7-footers his age. He grew a little later, which helped. He played tennis growing up, which really helped. His level of improvement from two years ago, to a year ago, to when we started recruiting him, to now has just skyrocketed. We expect big things from him.”
Blue, who is in charge of Siena’s defense, said he expects Amon to “anchor” the Saints at that end of the court.
Amon committed to Siena before visiting the campus. He said Smith showed a lot of interest in him and had a plan for him.
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“I also liked the Metro Conference,” he said. “It’s a place where there are not such big guys, so I’ll have the chance to dominate the competition and to grow my game as in (to) play fast, defend smaller players and get more versatile.”
Amon follows the NCAA Tournament and heard of Siena’s near-upset of Duke in the first round last season. Siena also offered Amon the opportunity to study and play basketball in the same place because Spain — like Europe, in general — doesn’t have traditional college basketball.
“For young players in Spain, American Division 1 basketball is the best option,” Amon said. “There’s a very competitive level, there’s opportunities, they’re a lot of teams to choose from, which there are not in Spain, unfortunately, because in Spain, professional clubs would rather sign professional, experienced players than give opportunities to the young guys.”
To get out of his Movistar Estudiantes contract, Amon said, he gave them a small percentage of his name, image and likeness deal with Siena.
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Amon’s father, Abel, also played professional basketball in Spain.
Andres Amon missed Siena’s summer workouts because he was playing in Slovenia. However, he flew to New York to visit the Siena campus for the first time and get acclimated to his new program.
First, he went sightseeing in New York City. He saw Times Square, Madison Square Garden and the Empire State Building.
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Traveling up to Siena, Amon met his new teammates for the first time. He’s flying back to Spain on Sunday and will return in three weeks to begin his first college season.
“I always knew that it was a great place, as far as everyone told me,” Amon said. “So, I’m really happy that I’m here.”