Arvydas Macijauskas (born January 19, 1980) is a Lithuanian former 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. Standing at tall, he played at the shooting guard position. He was one of the greatest Lithuanian players of the 2000s, as he won numerous individual awards, as well as

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 ...

and

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

titles. After starting his professional career with Neptūnas, he later played for some top EuroLeague teams, such as Tau Ceramica and

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 ...

. He also played with the

New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans on August 29, 2005, and caused extensive damage to the New Orleans Arena. As a result, the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s New Orleans Hornets were unable to play any home games at t ...

for one season in the NBA. He also represented the senior Lithuanian national basketball team. He announced his retirement from playing professional basketball in 2010, two years after his last club,

, had released him following a prolonged judicial litigation.

Early career

Early in his career, Macijauskas was a member of the Neptūnas junior team.

Professional playing career

Lithuania

Macijauskas made his pro debut in 1997, during the 1996–97 season, with the Lithuanian League club Neptūnas. He only played in 3 games in his rookie season, and spent most of the season with the

Klaipėda University Klaipėda University ( lt, Klaipėdos universitetas or KU) is a university in the Lithuanian port city of Klaipėda. Overview Klaipėda University was formally founded on January 1, 1991, by a decree of the Seimas (the Lithuanian parliame ...

-Irvinga team. He spent three seasons with Neptūnas, and averaged 12.7 points per game, on 53 percent field goal shooting, in the Lithuanian League. He played the next four seasons with the Lithuanian club

Lietuvos rytas ''Lietuvos rytas'' (lit. 'Morning of Lithuania') is a Lithuanian daily newspaper. History and profile "Lietuvos rytas" was established in 1990 on a basis of newspaper "Komjaunimo tiesa". The paper is printed in Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also ...

, and he led them to two Lithuanian League titles, in 2000 and 2002, and to a Northern European League title in 2003. He was named the Lithuanian League Finals MVP in 2002 and 2003. He averaged 15.3 points per game, on 61 percent field goal shooting, in 143 games played with Rytas.

Spain

Macijauskas joined the Spanish League club Tau Ceramica, for the next two seasons and he helped them win a Spanish Cup title in 2004. On December 17, 2003, he scored a career-high 40 points, in a EuroLeague 2003–04 season game against the French League club ASVEL Lyon. With Tau Ceramica, he also reached the EuroLeague's Final in 2005, where his team lost to the

Israeli Super League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

club

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 ...

; which was also led by a Lithuanian player, and

EuroLeague Final Four MVP The EuroLeague Final Four Most Valuable Player Award is presented and awarded to the basketball player who has exhibited the most exceptional play during the EuroLeague Final Four. The award often goes to the best player on the European-wide top ...

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 ...

. Macijauskas was selected to the

All-EuroLeague The All-EuroLeague Team is an award for Europe's premier level league, the EuroLeague, that is given to the league's top ten basketball players for each season, since the 2000–01 season. During the FIBA era of the EuroLeague, players were honor ...

First Team of the 2004–05 season. In two seasons with Tau, he played in 42 EuroLeague games, in which he averaged 18.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game.

NBA

Macijauskas signed with the

in 2005. He was rarely used in his only season in the NBA, as he totaled 135 minutes of playing time, and 44 points scored, in 19 games played. He was bought out by the Hornets after the season ended. After returning to Europe, he criticized the Hornets and the NBA through the press. When asked if he had put the previous season behind him, Macijauskas responded: "I want to forget that year. Everything went wrong. A really bad coach, a bad franchise. At the end of the season, I didn't even think of returning to New Orleans next season. From the third game on, I was already sentenced to zero minutes for the rest of the year. The NBA is not a fun experience. Teams are (not) teams. There's no true commitment between the teammates."

Greece

On July 20, 2006, Macijauskas signed with the Greek League club

. The deal was worth

€ 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 ...

9 million euros net income over four years. However, he suffered a devastating

Achilles' tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus (h ...

injury in September 2006, and he only played in two games during the EuroLeague 2006–07 season. Macijauskas was healthy for the following EuroLeague 2007–08 season, and he was named the

EuroLeague MVP of the Month The EuroLeague MVP of the Month is the award of Europe's premier level basketball league, the EuroLeague, for the most valuable player of each month of the season. The award began in the 2004–05 season, after the EuroLeague eliminated the Eur ...

for November 2007, after shooting a staggering 72.5 percent overall from the field (84.6 percent on 2 point field goal attempts, and 50 percent on 3 point field goal attempts). Olympiacos lost to the eventual EuroLeague champions

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 ...

, in the league's quarterfinals. Ironically, one of that team's leaders was also a Lithuanian player,

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 ...

. Later that year, Olympiacos sued Macijauskas for violating his contract terms (he injured his ankle during a holiday). The club wanted to cancel his contract, without paying him anymore compensation. A court later made a decision in Macijauskas' favor. However, Olympiacos appealed it, and eventually won the case in November 2009. In two seasons with Olympiacos, he played in 14 EuroLeague games, in which he averaged 13.8 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. In June 2010, he announced his retirement from his basketball playing career, because of health reasons.

National team career

Macijauskas was a member of the Lithuanian Under-18 and Under-20 junior national teams. He played at the

1998 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship The 1998 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship was an international basketball competition held in Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is si ...

and at the 2000 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship. Macijauskas led the senior Lithuania national team in scoring, at the

EuroBasket 2003 The 2003 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2003, was the 33rd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as the Europe qualifier for the 2004 Summer Olympics, giving a berth ...

, with an average of 15.8 points per game. The Lithuanians prevailed to win the gold medals at the tournament. However, his teammate,

, was named the tournament's MVP. He also played at the

2004 Summer Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, where the Lithuanians finished in fourth place. He averaged 15.9 points per game, on 54 percent field goal shooting, and scored a tournament-high 32 points against China, in the quarterfinals. Macijauskas also played at the 2006 World Championship, where the Lithuanian team finished in seventh place. He was a candidate for the Lithuanian team for

EuroBasket 2009 The 2009 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2009, was the 36th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe. The tournament, which was hosted by Poland, began on 7 September and concluded with the ...

in Poland, but at the last minute, he declared that he would not participate in the tournament.

Coaching career

On June 19, 2010, Macijauskas became the assistant coach of the Lithuanian club Perlas Vilnius, but in August it was announced that he had left Perlas, due to personal reasons.

Personal life

Arvydas Macijauskas married Viktorija Buder, on July 24, 2010.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2003–04 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2, Tau Cerámica , 20 , , 16 , , 30.5 , , .492 , , .396 , , .910 , , 2.5 , , 2.1 , , 1.6 , , .2 , , 19.4 , , 20.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2004–05 , 22 , , 19 , , 30.7 , , .479 , , .402 , , .915 , , 2.3 , , 2.8 , , 1.5 , , .1 , , 17.9 , , 18.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2006–07 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2,

, 2 , , 0 , , 15.0 , , .455 , , .143 , , 1.000 , , 2.5 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , 7.5 , , 5.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2007–08 , 12 , , 9 , , 23.2 , , .586 , , .379 , , .867 , , 2.0 , , 1.7 , , 1.7 , , .2 , , 14.8 , , 17.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 56 , , 44 , , 28.5 , , .500 , , .390 , , .903 , , 2.3 , , 2.2 , , 1.6 , , .1 , , 17.4 , , 18.5

NBA

Regular season

, - , align="left" , , align="left" , New Orleans/Oklahoma City , 19 , , 0 , , 7.1 , , .341 , , .250 , , .867 , , .5 , , .3 , , .4 , , .0 , , 2.3 , - , - class="sortbottom" , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 19 , , 0 , , 7.1 , , .341 , , .250 , , .867 , , .5 , , .3 , , .4 , , .0 , , 2.3 , -