Gustavo Ayón · Biography

The first title of Gustavo Alfonso Ayón Aguirre’s career came in 2007, when he won Mexico’s Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP) with Halcones de Xalapa, and the club repeated as champion in 2008. Born on April 1, 1985 in Zapotán, in the municipality of Compostela (Nayarit), the 6-foot-10 center went on to play in the Spanish league, the NBA and the EuroLeague. He was also the focal point of the Mexico team that returned to the World Cup in 2014.

Early years and development in Mexico

Ayón came up through the high school and college program at UPAEP in Puebla, where he studied communication sciences. He spent a short spell at San José State University in California but did not complete a semester there. He turned professional in 2006 with Halcones de Xalapa in the LNBP. During those years he combined the Veracruz club with loan spells at Vaqueros de Agua Prieta in 2007 and Dorados de Playa del Carmen in 2008. He went undrafted in the 2007 NBA draft.

Spain: Fuenlabrada and the Liga ACB

In 2009 he signed with Baloncesto Fuenlabrada. The club loaned him out that same year to Marinos de Anzoátegui, with whom he won the Venezuelan professional league in 2009, and later to CB Illescas and Tenerife CB. Back in Fuenlabrada he established himself in the Liga ACB, and in 2011 he was named ACB Rising Star and selected to the league’s All-Young Team. His form caught the attention of the NBA: in December 2011 the New Orleans Hornets paid the Madrid-area club a $1.5 million buyout and gave him a three-year contract.

Four teams in the NBA

In his first season in New Orleans, 2011-12, he played 54 games. On July 11, 2012 he was traded to the Orlando Magic in the sign-and-trade that sent Ryan Anderson to the Hornets. On February 21, 2013 Orlando dealt him to the Milwaukee Bucks along with J. J. Redick and Ish Smith in exchange for Tobias Harris, Beno Udrih and Doron Lamb. The Bucks waived him on July 25, 2013, and four days later the Atlanta Hawks claimed him off waivers. He finished his time in the league with 135 regular-season games, 41 of them as a starter, averaging 4.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists.

Five seasons at Real Madrid

On September 23, 2014 he signed a two-year deal with Real Madrid, which extended his contract by three more seasons in July 2016. In his first campaign, 2014-15, the club won the 2014 Spanish Supercup, the Copa del Rey, the Liga ACB and the 2015 EuroLeague, clinched in Madrid against Olympiacos. The 2015 Intercontinental Cup followed, then a league and cup double in 2016, with Ayón named Copa del Rey MVP, and another cup in 2017. Those seasons earned him a place on the All-ACB Second Team in 2016 and on the All-EuroLeague Second Team in 2016 and 2017. In 2018 he added a second EuroLeague, won in Belgrade against Fenerbahçe, along with the Liga ACB and the Supercup. In 2019 he lifted his fourth Spanish league title, and in June of that year the club announced his departure.

Mexico national team

With Mexico he won gold at the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship and was named FIBA Americas MVP. That result gave the national team its first World Cup qualification in 39 years. In 2014 he again took gold and the tournament MVP award at the Centrobasket, and at that summer’s World Cup in Spain Mexico went out in the second round against the United States. At the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship he made the All-Tournament Team, and in 2017 he won a bronze medal at the FIBA AmeriCup.

Final stops and move into politics

On July 26, 2019 he signed a one-year deal with Zenit Saint Petersburg. On September 30, 2020 he returned to the Mexican league with Astros de Jalisco, and in September 2021 he joined Capitanes de Arecibo in Puerto Rico. On November 17, 2021 Arecibo won Game 6 of the final against the Mets in Guaynabo to claim the 2021 BSN championship, the franchise’s eighth title. In April 2023 he played one game for Venados de Mazatlán. Away from the court, he ran for municipal president of Compostela in the June 2, 2024 elections as the candidate of Morena, the PVEM, the PT and Fuerza por México. He won with more than 56% of the vote and took office in September 2024.