Hanno Möttölä

Who is Hanno Möttölä?

Hanno Aleksanteri Möttölä is a Finnish professional basketball player. Möttölä previously played for the Atlanta Hawks in the National Basketball Association, in the power forward position, where he became the first player from Finland to play in the NBA.

Möttölä attended the University of Utah in the United States where he played college basketball under coach Rick Majerus. He was a starter on the team that played for the 1998 national championship before losing to Kentucky. After graduation, he was selected in the second round, with the 40th overall pick, in the 2000 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks. He played two seasons with the Hawks. After his time with the Hawks, he returned to Europe, playing in Spain with TAU Cerámica of the ACB, then in Italy with Skipper Bologna and Scavolini Pesaro, in the Russian Super League with Dynamo Moscow, in the Lithuanian league with Žalgiris Kaunas and in the Greek A1 league with Aris, after signing with the team on 26 July 2007.

He announced his retirement from basketball on 26 September 2008, but decided to return to basketball just nine months later. In September 2009 Möttölä signed with the Finnish team Torpan Pojat.