List of famous basketball players from Lithuania, listed alphabetically with photos of the players when available. Lithuania has produced some very talented basketball players over the years, including centers, guards and forwards. These are some of the best Lithuanian basketball players to ever live, so if you’re a native of Lithuania and are aspiring to play ball professionally then these people should be your idols. If you only know one thing about Lithuania, it must be basketball because let’s be honest there is no other nation in the world which would be so crazy in love with this sport.
Lithuania has always been among the strongest teams in the world, so there is no surprise that its national basketball players are famous worldwide. Let’s exploce The Legendary Lithuanian Basketball Players of All Time below.
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The Legendary Lithuanian Basketball Players of All Time
Arvydas Sabonis
Arvydas Sabonis is the best Lithuanian basketball player ever and often considered to be among the top five best European basketball players. It would take forever to list all Sabonis’ titles as he has won everything from EuroBasket to ACB to EuroLeague. Sabonis is now the President of the Lithuanian Basketball Association and a proud member of the NBA Hall of Fame.
And he achieved it all after suffering from a serious achilles’ tendon injury at the age at the age of 21. Many specialists believe Sabonis could have been as good as Kareem Abdul Jabbar or Shaq if only he could’ve stayed healthy. Sabonis’ son Domantas is also a very successful basketball player, currently playing for Indiana Pacers.
Šarūnas Jasikevičius
Šarūnas Jasikevičius is the most popular basketball player among the younger generation, which grew up watching him defeating team USA in the Olympics and leading Lithuania to the gold at the EuroBasket 2003. Even though Šarūnas’ career in NBA was not successful, he is still considered to be among the best point guards ever to play in Europe. Today, Jasikevičius is the head coach of Kaunas Žalgiris and he is proving to everyone that he is just as brilliant at coaching as he was at playing.
Artūras Karnišovas
Artūras Karnišovas has scored 1,453 points playing for the Lithuanian national basketball team and that is by far the best total ever. Karnišovas was a phenomenal scorer and player but sadly, he suffered many serious injuries throughout his playing days, which destroyed his career and made him retire much earlier than expected. Lithuanian fans still wonder how good Karnišovas could have become if he had stayed healthy. Today, Artūras is the general manager of Denver Nuggets.
Bradley Beal sweepstakes
The latest buzz comes from a somewhat offhand remark from Adrian Wojnarowski as he discussed the Beal situation on ESPN’s “The Jump,” but given that Woj is as plugged in as they come, his certainty here is still worth noting (emphasis mine): “There’s not a team in the league who wouldn’t love to find a way to add Bradley Beal. I think for teams like Golden State or the Denvers, teams who have assets who are contenders when they’re healthy, but also, let’s say if you’re Golden State, you’ve got that Minnesota draft pick, if you’re Denver, you’ve got a great young player in Michael Porter Jr., you’ve got an All Star in Jamal Murray in the backcourt.
Now I’m not saying they’re going to do it, but you look at those teams and say ‘they have enough to get in the conversation.’ “And that’s going to be the decision for teams all over the league. Of course the Lakers and Clippers would love to be able to get involved in that, but do they have the draft picks.
Robertas Javtokas
Robertas Javtokas recently ended his career as a professional basketball player and became one of the assistant coaches of Kaunas Žalgiris. Javtokas was a member of the national side from 2001 to 2016 and served as captain of the team for many years.
Early in his career, he was supposed to play for San Antonio Spurs, but was involved in a serious motorcycle accident and his NBA dreams were dashed.
Jonas Valančiūnas
Jonas Valančiūnas is the leader of the current Lithuania national team and a member of Toronto Raptors. He is constantly proving himself as one of the top centers in the NBA. Even though he is only 25 years old and his career peak is yet to come, Valančiūnas is already among the best ever Lithuanian basketball players.
