Rimantas "Rimas" Kaukėnas (born 11 April 1977) 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

executive and former player who is the president of Wolves Twinsbet of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) and the EuroCup. His long career has taken him to a number of countries, finding the most success in Italy. He has also been a member of the senior men's Lithuanian national team. Playing primarily at the

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

position, he could also play as a

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

Professional career

Kaukėnas was a longtime member of

Montepaschi Siena Mens Sana Basketball Siena, also known as simply Mens Sana, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Siena. It is a section of the sports club Polisportiva Mens Sana, founded in 1871. Under the name Montepaschi Siena, derived from spon ...

of the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

. On 5 August 2012 he signed for his homeland team Žalgiris Kaunas. He joined Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia in December 2013, helping the side reach the finals of the 2014–15 Lega Basket Serie A. In July 2015, his contract was extended for another season. On 7 July 2016 Kaukėnas retired from professional basketball. On 7 January 2017 Kaukėnas came out of retirement and rejoined Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia for the rest of the season.

National team

Kaukėnas played with the senior men's Lithuanian national basketball team at the EuroBasket 2001, the

EuroBasket 2007 The 2007 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2007, was the 35th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics – ...

, where he won a bronze medal, and the EuroBasket 2011. He also played at both the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

and the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Personal life

Kaukėnas established the Rimantas Kaukenas Charity Group, which aims to provide "magical moments" for children with life-threatening medical conditions. He is married to former Swedish-Serbian basketball player

Tanja Kostić Tanja Kostić (; born November 10, 1972) is a Swedish retired women's basketball player best known for playing with the Oregon State Beavers from 1993 to 1996. She won a EuroLeague Women in 1998 with CJM Bourges Basket. Early life Kostic was b ...

, with whom he has three daughters. Tanja follows the activities of RK Charity Group, while Rimantas is playing during the season. He is fluent in English, Italian and Russian.

EuroLeague career statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2005–06 , style="text-align:left;"rowspan=3,

, 14 , , 12 , , 28.5 , , .442 , , .302 , , .847 , , 1.9 , , 2.0 , , 1.7 , , .0 , , 15.1 , , 12.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2007–08 , 9 , , 5 , , 28.8 , , .431 , , .290 , , .882 , , 2.6 , , 2.6 , , 1.6 , , .1 , , 14.1 , , 13.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2008–09 , 18 , , 5 , , 28.8 , , .518 , , .368 , , .847 , , 2.3 , , 1.7 , , 1.1 , , .0 , , 14.8 , , 12.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2009–10 , style="text-align:left;",

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, 18 , , 10 , , 21.4 , , .545 , , .353 , , .829 , , 1.1 , , 1.3 , , 1.6 , , .0 , , 10.3 , , 8.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2010–11 , style="text-align:left;"rowspan=2,

, 20 , , 11 , , 25.3 , , .445 , , .308 , , .902 , , 2.0 , , 1.9 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , 12.0 , , 9.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , 6 , , 6 , , 25.3 , , .580 , , .643 , , 1.000 , , 2.2 , , 2.5 , , 1.2 , , .0 , , 14.5 , , 15.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2012–13 , style="text-align:left;", Žalgiris Kaunas , 24 , , 11 , , 20.3 , , .395 , , .344 , , .882 , , 2.1 , , 1.9 , , .8 , , .0 , , 7.8 , , 6.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;", Laboral Kutxa , 5 , , 1 , , 12.3 , , .583 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 1.4 , , 1.0 , , .6 , , .2 , , 3.6 , , 3.8 , - , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;"colspan=2, Career , 114 , , 61 , , 23.8 , , .510 , , .337 , , .874 , , 1.9 , , 1.8 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , 11.6 , , 10.2

Awards and achievements

* Lithuanian League Champion: 2002 * North European League Champion: 2002 * German League All-Star Game

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

: 2004 * Eurobasket.com's German League Player of the Year: 2004 * Italian League MVP ''Runner Up'': 2005 * 2× Italian SuperCup Winner: 2007, 2008 * Italian League MVP ''Runner Up'': 2007 * 4× Italian League Champion: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 * Italian League Finals MVP: 2007 *

: *

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

3rd Place: 2008 * His number 13 was retired by

in 2009.

References

External links

Euroleague Profile

Serie A Profile

Liga ACB Profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaukenas, Rimantas 1977 births Living people Basketball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Vilnius Basketball players with retired numbers BC Rytas players BC Oostende players Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Belgium Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Israel Hapoel Galil Elyon players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Lega Basket Serie A players Liga ACB players Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Germany Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Italy Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Spain Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in the United States Lithuanian men's basketball players 21st-century Lithuanian sportsmen Mens Sana Basket players Olympic basketball players for Lithuania Pallacanestro Cantù players Pallacanestro Reggiana players Real Madrid Baloncesto players Saski Baskonia players Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball players Shooting guards Telekom Baskets Bonn players