Kristjan Kitsing (born December 11, 1990) is an Estonian professional basketball player for Kalev/Cramo of

VTB United League VTB United League (russian: Единая Лига ВТБ) is an international professional men's club basketball league that was founded in 2008. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Since 2013, it ...

. Kitsing is also a member of the

Estonia national basketball team Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

Club career

Kitsing started his career with the junior team of the

University of Tartu basketball team University of Tartu basketball team ( et, link=no, Tartu Ülikooli korvpallimeeskond ), for sponsorship reasons known as Tartu Ülikool Maks & Moorits, is a professional basketball team based in Tartu, Estonia. The team plays in the Latvian–E ...

. In the beginning of the 2008/2009 season, Kitsing was promoted to the senior team. In his first season he averaged 4 points a game with an average of almost 8 minutes in only 11 games. The following season looked a lot better for the Estonian youngster as he averaged 8,7 points in 16 minutes in the regular season, but was later benched for the playoffs although he proved to be one of the best prospects in Estonia at that time. After winning his first Estonia League title in Tartu, Kitsing moved to

BC Kalev BC Kalev, known as BC Kalev/Cramo for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Tallinn, Estonia. The team plays in the Korvpalli Meistriliiga, the Estonian-Latvian Basketball League and the FIBA Europe Cup. They play their ...

in hopes of getting more playing time and gaining some experience in the

. With the new team and a new coach, his decision to change the club proved to be right as Kitsing averaged 6,5 points in 16 minutes, playing in a total of 36 games. He went on to win his second championship. In the start of the 2011/2012 season, Kitsing scored 11 points against the Lithuanian team Žalgiris. He continued his season putting up pretty great numbers and in the end of the season he won his third Estonian title. For the 2012/2013 season, the forward was loaned to

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet ...

to recover from an injury. After spending a season on loan, Kitsing made his Eurocup debut back at his previous club in 2013. By the end of the season Kitsing had won another title to write on his name. The next season his role and statistics stayed the same, but after the team's starting power forward left the club, the situation didn't improve as small forwards were pushed to his position. After the defeat in the 2014/2015 finals, Kitsing left the club. He signed with TTÜ. He played 32 minutes a game averaging 16,5 points and 6,3 rebounds per game. He was voted to the league's symbolic 1st team lineup and later in the summer he had a great qualification tournament with the national team. After his season, Kitsing moved to Argentina to play for the

Estudiantes Concordia Club Estudiantes Concordia is an Argentine sports club located in the city of Concordia, Entre Ríos. The club is mostly known for its basketball team, which plays at Liga Nacional de Básquet, the top division of Argentine basketball league syst ...

in the Argentinian first division, but the player and the team terminated the contract after two months. A week later, Kitsing announced that he would be joining the

Bakken Bears Bakken Bears is a Danish professional basketball club based in Aarhus. The club plays in the Basketligaen, the top tier basketball league in Denmark. Founded in 1953, the club has won the Basketligaen 20 times and holds the record for the most ...

of the

Danish Basketball League The Basketligaen ( en, The Basketball League) is the highest professional basketball league in Denmark. The original men's first division was founded in 1957 and the current league was founded in 1998. All-time record holder in league titles is B ...

who was also participating in the newly announced

Basketball Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL) is an annual professional basketball competition for European clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the top-level competition organised by FIBA Europe, therefore the champion participates in the FIBA Intercont ...

. At the end of the 2016/2017 season, Bakken won the title of the

. For the next season Kitsing moved back to his hometown to play with his old club

BC Tartu University of Tartu basketball team ( et, link=no, Tartu Ülikooli korvpallimeeskond ), for sponsorship reasons known as Tartu Ülikool Maks & Moorits, is a professional basketball team based in Tartu, Estonia. The team plays in the Latvian–Est ...

. On 13 September 2020, Rytas announced an addition of Kitsing for the 2020–21 season. On July 29, 2021, he signed with Kalev/Cramo of

Career statistics

Domestic leagues

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitsing, Kristjan 1990 births Living people Bakken Bears players BC Kalev/Cramo players BC Rytas players Centers (basketball) Estonian men's basketball players Estonian expatriate basketball people in Lithuania Estudiantes Concordia basketball players KK Pärnu players Power forwards (basketball) Basketball players from Tallinn Tartu Ülikool/Rock players TTÜ KK players