Mindaugas Kuzminskas (born 19 October 1989) 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

Pınar Karşıyaka Pınar is a common feminine Turkish given name. In Turkish, "Pınar" means "Spring" (of water), and/or "Fountain". Notable people called Pınar include: Given name * Pinar Heggernes (born 1969), Turkish-born Norwegian computer scientist * Pına ...

of the

Basketbol Süper Ligi The Basketball Super League ( tr, Basketbol Süper Ligi; BSL), also known as the Türkiye Sigorta Basketbol Süper Ligi for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's professional basketball division of the Turkish basketball league system. It replace ...

(BSL). He also represents the Lithuanian national team. He is 2.05 m (6'8 ") tall, and he can play both the

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronger ...

and

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to centers. When on offense, they typically play with their ba ...

positions.

Professional career

Europe

Kuzminskas started his basketball career in 2006 with Sakalai where he played for one season. For the 2007–08 season, he moved to Perlas. In the summer of 2008, he signed with

Šiauliai Šiauliai (; bat-smg, Šiaulē; german: Schaulen, ) is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 107,086. From 1994 to 2010 it was the capital of Šiauliai County. Names Šiauliai is referred to by various names in different la ...

. In September 2009, Kuzminskas signed with Žalgiris, but he stayed one more season on loan with Šiauliai. In 2010, he joined Žalgiris and stayed with the team for three seasons. In June 2013, Kuzminskas signed a contract with the Spanish team

Unicaja Unicaja is a Spanish savings bank based in Málaga and chartered as a caja de ahorros providing retail banking services. The banks full name is ''Monte de Piedad y Caja de Ahorros de Ronda, Cádiz, Almería, Málaga y Antequera'' after the n ...

. On 22 October 2015, Kuzminskas scored his EuroLeague career-high 23 points and led his team to triumph versus the

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

93–82 in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

. Then on 13 November, Kuzminskas played his most efficient EuroLeague game of 30 PIR points (22 points (2FG: 6/7, 3FG: 3/5, FT: 1/1), 4 rebounds, 3 steals) and led Unicaja to another outstanding away-game victory, this time against

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet era, it was a central piece of the big So ...

, winning 86–78. In 36

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

games for Unicaja in 2015–16, he averaged 10.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.

NBA

On 9 July 2016, Kuzminskas signed with the New York Knicks. On 25 October 2016, he made his debut for the Knicks in their season opener, scoring seven points in nine minutes off the bench in a 117–88 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. On 12 January 2017, he scored a season-high 19 points in a 104–89 win over the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January ...

. On 12 November 2017, Kuzminskas was waived by the Knicks to make room for the return of the suspended

Joakim Noah Joakim Simon Noah ( ; born February 25, 1985) is an American-born French-Swedish former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Florida Gators, winning back-to-back NCAA championships in 2006 and 2007. The Chicago B ...

. He appeared in 68 games during his rookie season, but just one game to begin his second season.

Return to Europe

On 1 January 2018, Kuzminskas signed with the Italian club

Olimpia Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

. On 1 July 2019, Kuzminskas parted ways with Olimpia Milano after a season and a half playing for them and winning one Italian championship. On 22 July 2019, Kuzminskas signed a two-year contract with Greek club

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

. On 9 November 2019, with playing time declining since October, Kuzminskas was released from the Greek club. On 11 November 2019, Kuzminskas signed a

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

1.5 million deal with

Lokomotiv Kuban PBC Lokomotiv Kuban (russian: ПБК «Локомотив Кубань») is a Russian professional basketball team based in Krasnodar. The club participates in the VTB United League. The team is one of the top tier basketball teams in Russia. T ...

. Kuzminskas was selected to the 2020 VTB United League All-Star Game where he scored 14 points, grabbed 1 rebound and dished out 4 assists. During the 2020-21 season, Kuzminskas averaged 13 points και 4.5 rebounds in 40 games in the

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 ...

and the EuroCup. On 5 July 2021 he signed with the Russian team

Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Зенит» ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, acco ...

of the

and the EuroLeague. He left the team after the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...

. On 21 September 2022 he signed with

of the

(BSL).

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;",

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

, style="text-align:left;" rowspan="3", Žalgiris , 8 , , 1 , , 6.8 , , .357 , , .167 , , .667 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , .3 , , .0 , , 1.6 , , 1.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , 12 , , 0 , , 8.4 , , .555 , , .143 , , .706 , , 1.3 , , .2 , , .2 , , .0 , , 2.8 , , 2.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 23 , , 5 , , 14.1 , , .527 , , .324 , , .829 , , 3.1 , , .3 , , .5 , , .2 , , 7.1 , , 7.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="3",

, 24 , , 16 , , 14.2 , , .472 , , .314 , , .633 , , 2.3 , , .5 , , .5 , , .3 , , 6.3 , , 5.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , 24 , , 20 , , 21.8 , , .450 , , .275 , , .813 , , 4.5 , , 1.5 , , .9 , , .4 , , 10.0 , , 12.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , 23 , , 20 , , 21.3 , , .486 , , .377 , , .827 , , 3.4 , , 1.0 , , .6 , , .3 , , 12.0 , , 11.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", Olimpia , 14 , , 13 , , 21.6 , , .474 , , .432 , , .795 , , 2.4 , , 1.4 , , .5 , , .6 , , 10.9 , , 9.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , 30 , , 1 , , 17.0 , , .514 , , .469 , , .859 , , 3.3 , , .7 , , .5 , , .3 , , 8.5 , , 8.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 158 , , 76 , , 16.5 , , .475 , , .359 , , .800 , , 3.0 , , .8 , , .5 , , .2 , , 8.1 , , 8.3

Eurocup

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", Lokomotiv , 4 , , 0 , , 23.3 , , .500 , , .385 , , .846 , , 2.0 , , 1.5 , , .5 , , .3 , , 12.5 , , 11 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2020–21 , 19 , , 15 , , 26.4 , , .550 , , .344 , , .775 , , 4.4 , , 1.5 , , .3 , , .7 , , 12.4 , , 13.6

NBA

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", New York , 68 , , 5 , , 14.9 , , .428 , , .321 , , .809 , , 1.9 , , 1.0 , , .4 , , .2 , , 6.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", New York , 1 , , 0 , , 2.0 , , .000 , , , , , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 69 , , 5 , , 14.8 , , .426 , , .321 , , .809 , , 1.8 , , 1.0 , , .4 , , .2 , , 6.2

Personal life

Both of Kuzminskas' parents were professional athletes, his father, Vladas, played

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

, while his mother, Zita, was a professional basketball player. He also has an older brother, Saulius, who was also a professional basketball player between 1999 and 2015. When Kuzminskas was 13 he visited

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. During his trip to Canada, he toured the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

' arena and went to Kretinga, a Lithuanian Youth Summer Camp in

Wasaga Beach, Ontario Wasaga Beach (or simply Wasaga) is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. Situated along the longest freshwater beach in the world, it is a popular summer tourist destination. It is located along the southern end of Georgian Bay, approximate ...

. In 2017, after 6 years of dating, he married Lithuanian ballet dancer Eglė Andreikaitė. The couple announced their separation in 2019.

Don't Snooze On Kuz

While in the NBA, a fan-made Instagram account entitled
dontsnoozeonkuz
gained popularity through various satirical and serious postings about Kuzminskas. The account mainly focused on promoting Kuzminskas as a basketball player, and frequently requested his then-current team, the New York Knicks, to increase his playing time. Kuzminskas followed "dontsnoozeonkuz," which has amassed over 1,200 followers as of 29 June 2017. "Dontsnoozeonkuz" is still active today despite the end of Kuzminskas' NBA tenure.

References

External links

Mindaugas Kuzminskas
at draftexpress.com
Mindaugas Kuzminskas
at euroleague.net

at fiba.com

at basketball-reference.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuzminskas, Mindaugas 1989 births Living people 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup players 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup players Baloncesto Málaga players Basketball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Vilnius BC Šiauliai players BC Žalgiris players Karşıyaka basketball players Lega Basket Serie A players Liga ACB players Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Greece Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Italy Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Russia Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Spain Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in the United States Lithuanian men's basketball players National Basketball Association players from Lithuania New York Knicks players Olimpia Milano players Olympiacos B.C. players Olympic basketball players for Lithuania PBC Lokomotiv-Kuban players Power forwards (basketball) Small forwards Undrafted National Basketball Association players