Lukas Lekavičius (born March 30, 1994) is a Lithuanian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for Žalgiris Kaunas of the

Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

(LKL) and the EuroLeague. Standing at , he plays the point guard position. He was named to the LKL All-Tournament Team in 2017.

Professional career

After spending his whole career in the Žalgiris Kaunas system, helping Žalgiris dominate the LKL scene, Lekavičius joined

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

, on a two-year contract, in 2017. He was personally chosen by the Panathinaikos

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

, Xavi Pascual, who had previously observed Lekavičius playing for a couple of years. Lekavičius chose the number 19 for his Panathinaikos jersey, which was previously used in the same club by Lithuanian players

Robertas Javtokas Robertas Javtokas (born March 20, 1980) is a Lithuanian professional basketball executive and former player. He most recently served as sports director of Žalgiris Kaunas. Standing at , he played the center position. He has been a member of the ...

Ramūnas Šiškauskas Ramūnas Šiškauskas (, born September 10, 1978) is a former Lithuanian professional basketball player and basketball coach. At a listed height of 6'6" (1.98 m) tall, he could play at both the shooting guard and small forward positions. His indi ...

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and Lekavičius' former coach

Šarūnas Jasikevičius Šarūnas "Šaras" Jasikevičius (; born 5 March 1976) is a Lithuanian professional basketball coach and former player. He currently serves as a head coach for FC Barcelona of the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. During his playing career, standing ...

. After spending two years in Greece, Lekavičius returned to Lithuania and signed with Žalgiris on a two-year (1+1) deal on 17 June 2019. He averaged 10.5 points and 2.8 assists per game. He re-signed with the club on 8 July 2020.

National team career

Lekavičius had notable performances with the Lithuania youth national teams, winning two European silver medals, and the world bronze medal in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

. In 2015, Lekavičius was included into the senior

Lithuania men's national basketball team The Lithuania men's national basketball team ( lt, Lietuvos nacionalinė vyrų krepšinio rinktinė) represents Lithuania in international basketball competitions. They are controlled by the Lithuanian Basketball Federation, the governing body f ...

candidates list, by the team's

Jonas Kazlauskas Jonas Kazlauskas (born 21 November 1954) is a Lithuanian professional basketball coach and former player. He was most recently the head coach of the Guangdong Southern Tigers in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). Playing career Kazlauskas ...

. He was also invited to the team's training camp, and he then made it onto the main national team that competed at the

EuroBasket 2015 EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 S ...

, where he won a silver medal. In 2017, just before the start of the

EuroBasket 2017 EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe and held between 31 August and 17 September 2017. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships take place every four years with a similar ...

championship, Lekavičius suffered a foot injury that ultimately sidelined him for two months, and was replaced in the final 12-man squad by Adas Juškevičius. In 2019, Lekavičius represented Lithuania in the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Despite the team falling short of its goals, he was a crucial asset, providing scoring off the bench as the backup point guard. In five games played, he averaged 13.0 points, with 65% overall shooting, 1.8 assists, 1.0 steals and 13.4 point efficiency rating in just 17.7 minutes of playing time.

Personal life

Lekavičius' has a couple of nicknames. His first nickname, Lightning McQueen (''Žaibas Makvynas''), was given to him by the Lithuanian TV broadcast commentator, and Lithuania national team staff representative, Linas Kunigėlis. His second nickname, Lithuanian Isaiah Thomas, was given to him by the Lithuanian

sports media Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

, because of his similarities to Isaiah Thomas' (Thomas' height is 5'9", and Lekavičius' height is 5'10". They are both left-handed, and at one time, both of their

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

team's main colors were green and white).

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;"rowspan=3, Žalgiris , 24 , , 7 , , 18.9 , , .417 , , .333 , , .778 , , 1.8 , , 2.7 , , .4 , , .0 , , 5.5 , , 5.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , 21 , , 3 , , 14.3 , , .418 , , .516 , , .737 , , 1.1 , , 1.3 , , .9 , , .0 , , 4.6 , , 3.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , 30 , , 0 , , 18.1 , , .448 , , .338 , , .759 , , 1.9 , , 3.5 , , .6 , , .0 , , 8.5 , , 8.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2,

, 31 , , 3 , , 12.6 , , .473 , , .486 , , .895 , , 1.0 , , 1.5 , , .2 , , .0 , , 3.9 , , 4.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , 33 , , 0 , , 10.8 , , .423 , , .405 , , .786 , , .8 , , 1.3 , , .3 , , .0 , , 4.0 , , 3.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;"rowspan=3, Žalgiris , 27 , , 3 , , 19.9 , , .535 , , .392 , , .862 , , 1.3 , , 2.8 , , .5 , , .0 , , 10.5 , , 10.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 33 , , 0 , , 18.3 , , .550 , , .500 , , .864 , , 1.2 , , 2.4 , , .5 , , .0 , , 8.2 , , 8.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , 32 , , 5 , , 23.7 , , .439 , , .431 , , .878 , , 1.3 , , 4.2 , , .7 , , .0 , , 10.2 , , 10.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center"; colspan="2", Career , 232 , , 21 , , 17.1 , , .470 , , .397 , , .830 , , 1.3 , , 2.5 , , .5 , , .0 , , 7.0 , , 7.1

Professional career

National team career

Personal life

Career statistics

EuroLeague

References

External links