Martin Müürsepp

Martin Müürsepp (; born 26 September 1974) is an Estonian professional basketball coach and former player, who is the head coach of Haljala NGU of the I liiga. Widely regarded as one of Estonia's greatest basketball players of all time, he is the first Estonian to have played in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Müürsepp won the FIBA Saporta Cup in 2000, and the FIBA Europe League in 2004, earning the Europe League Finals MVP award in the process. He represented the senior Estonian national team internationally.

Early life

Müürsepp was born in Tallinn, to Hilja Volter, who worked in a barbecue restaurant, and Suido Müürsepp, a truck driver. He attended the Tallinn Secondary School No. 39, the Tallinn Secondary School No. 43, and the Tallinn Secondary School No. 49, leaving without graduating in 1991. Müürsepp started playing basketball when he was nine years old. His first coach was Andres Sõber. He made his Estonian League debut in 1990, at age 15, playing for TPedI. In 1991, Müürsepp won the Estonian Cup with Andris. Müürsepp helped BC Kalev to defend the league title and win the Estonian Cup. He averaged 16.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game in the league. Müürsepp made his NBA debut on 21 December 1996, playing the final 82 seconds of the game and recording 2 points, one rebound and one assist in a 86–66 victory over the Houston Rockets. He appeared in 10 games, and averaged 1.7 points, 0.5 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game for the Heat.

Dallas Mavericks (1997–1998)

On 14 February 1997, the Heat traded Müürsepp, Predrag Danilović and Kurt Thomas to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Jamal Mashburn. He made his debut for the Mavericks a day later, scoring 2 points in a 99–84 loss against the Utah Jazz. In the 1996–97 season, Müürsepp averaged 4.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game for the Mavericks. He appeared in 41 games, with 7 starts, for the team during the 1997–98 season, averaging 5.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 0.7 steals per game. Due to the 1998–99 NBA lockout, the season did not start until 5 February 1999. During the lockout, Müürsepp made two appearances in the Estonian League, playing for Nybit. The Estonian Basketball Association was subsequently fined for allowing him to play without the permission of FIBA. On 23 January 1999, the Suns traded Müürsepp, Mark Bryant, Bubba Wells and a 1999 first-round draft pick to the Chicago Bulls for Luc Longley.

Greece (1999–2001)

On 1 February 1999, Müürsepp signed with Aris Thessaloniki of the Greek League. In May 1999, he was suspended by the Hellenic Basketball Association for three months for use of ephedrine.

On 15 July 1999, Müürsepp signed with AEK Athens on a one-year, $700,000 contract with an option to extend for another season. He helped AEK win the FIBA Saporta Cup in 2000 and back-to-back Greek Cups in 2000 and 2001.

Russia (2001–2006)

In September 2001, Müürsepp signed a one-year contract with Russian club UNICS Kazan.

On 14 August 2002, Müürsepp signed with Dynamo Moscow on a one-year contract. However, he left the club in November 2002 after they failed to pay his wages for the second month in a row. In December 2002, Müürsepp signed with Ural Great Perm for the remainder of the season.

On 18 June 2003, Müürsepp re-signed with UNICS Kazan. In the 2003–04 FIBA Europe League season, he led the team to their first European trophy in the club's history and was named the Europe League Finals MVP, scoring a game-high 22 points in 87–63 victory over Maroussi.

On 17 June 2004, Müürsepp signed a one-year contract with Russian powerhouse CSKA Moscow. He helped the team win the Russian League and the Russian Cup titles in 2005.

Final years (2006–2010)

On 27 June 2006, Müürsepp returned to Estonia by signing a one-year contract with Tartu Ülikool/Rock. He helped TÜ/Rock win the Estonian League title in 2007, averaging 11.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. He was released by the Tigers in December 2007 after picking up an ankle injury.

On 28 February 2008, Müürsepp signed with BC Kalev/Cramo while still recovering from his ankle injury. He left BC Kalev/Cramo after the 2008–09 season without playing in a single official game for the club.

On 26 February 2010, Müürsepp joined BC Rakvere Tarvas, where he was reunited with Andres Sõber, his first coach. He retired after the 2009–10 season. He finished his national team career in 2007. He was promoted to the head coach position in January 2019 following Kullamäe's mid-season departure. Müürsepp guided Tallinna Kalev/TLÜ to their first-ever KML Finals in 2019, for which he was named KML Newcomer of the Year.

On 1 July 2021, Müürsepp was hired as head coach of Rakvere Tarvas. The team finished the 2021–22 Estonian-Latvian Basketball League season in 13th place.

On 21 November 2022, Müürsepp was hired as assistant coach of Pärnu Sadam, where he was reunited with head coach Gert Kullamäe.

On 20 August 2024, Müürsepp was hired as head coach of Haljala NGU in Saku 2 liiga.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

|align=left rowspan=2|

|align=left| Miami

| 10 || 0 || 2.9 || .357 || .250 || .429 || .5 || .3 || .0 || .1 || 1.7

|align=left| Dallas

| 32 || 0 || 10.0 || .419 || .150 || .679 || 1.9 || .5 || .4 || .3 || 4.3

|align=left|

|align=left| Dallas

| 41 || 7 || 14.7 || .435 || .421 || .761 || 2.8 || .7 || .7 || .3 || 5.7

|- class="sortbottom"

|style="text-align:center;" colspan=2|Career

| 83 || 7 || 11.5 || .425 || .323 || .693 || 2.2 || .6 || .5 || .3 || 4.7

Euroleague

| align="left" | 2000–01

| align="left" | AEK Athens

| 17 || 14 || 21.5 || .423 || .235 || .490 || 4.9 || .7 || .9 || .2 || 8.6 || 7.0

| align="left" | 2004–05

| align="left" | CSKA Moscow

| 24 || 6 || 17.5 || .528 || .462 || .645 || 3.3 || .9 || .7 || .2 || 8.0 || 7.6