Martynas Pocius (born 28 April 1986) is a Lithuanian retired 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. He was also a member of the Lithuanian national basketball team.

Early life and high school

Martynas Pocius was born in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

to Gintaras, a basketball coach, and Jūratė, a physical education teacher. At age 13, he suffered a serious injury to his left hand, partially cutting three fingers with a grinder while at school. Two fingers were re-attached, while one had to be partially

amputated Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indiv ...

. Pocius attended the prestigious

Holderness School , established = 1879 , type = Private high school , locale = , religion = Episcopal , image = , grades =9-12, PG , head_name = Headmaster , head = R. Phillip Peck , city = Holderness , state = New Hampshire , country = USA , student ...

in Plymouth,

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

, where he played on the basketball team in his last two years, leading the team to back-to-back New England Prep School Class C titles. In his first title run, during the 2003–04 season, Pocius averaged 18 points and 4,5 rebounds, and led the team to a 17–7 record. In the 2004–05 season, Pocius averaged 18 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and led the team to a 19–10 record. As a senior, he was ranked 40th overall and 12th among

shooting guards 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 positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

by Rivals.com and rated the 55th-top prospect (16th among shooting guards) by Scout.com. Pocius was also named to the World Select team for the 2005 Nike Hoops Summit, where he scored a game high 20 points in a 98–106 loss to the USA.

College career

After graduating from high school, Pocius committed to Duke University, where he played on the university's basketball team, coached by

Mike Krzyzewski Michael William Krzyzewski ( ; born February 13, 1947), nicknamed "Coach K", is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Duke University from 1980 to 2022, during which he led the Blue Devils to five nati ...

. As a freshman, Pocius appeared in 28 games, averaging 1.5 points and 0.3 rebounds in 6.1 minutes. In his sophomore year, Pocius increased his stats, averaging 1.9 points and 0.6 rebounds in 7.1 minutes in 27 games. Throughout the season he was battling an ankle injury, for which he missed four games. Pocius underwent a season-ending surgery on his left ankle on 8 January 2008, during his junior year. Due to the surgery he only played 4 games in which he averaged 4 points and 2.3 rebounds in 8 minutes. In his final season at Duke, Pocius played 22 games, averaging 1.5 points. He graduated from Duke in 2009 with a degree in international

comparative studies Cross-cultural studies, sometimes called holocultural studies or comparative studies, is a specialization in anthropology and sister sciences such as sociology, psychology, economics, political science that uses field data from many societies thr ...

Professional career

Žalgiris Kaunas (2009–2011)

After graduating from Duke, Pocius chose to continue his basketball career in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. He went back to his home country, Lithuania, and signed a multi-year contract with Žalgiris Kaunas. In his debut season, Pocius averaged 8.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 16 games in the EuroLeague. Although Žalgiris Kaunas did not pass the Top 16 round, the team did perform better in their national and regional championships. Pocius led the team to the

Baltic Basketball League Baltic Basketball League (BBL) was the Baltic states basketball league founded in 2004. The league mainly focused on teams from the Baltic states, but teams from Sweden, Russia, Kazakhstan, Finland, and Belarus have participated in the Baltic L ...

(BBL) title, averaging 10.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 0.9 assists. He also led the team to a second place in

Lietuvos krepšinio lyga Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL) (''English'': Lithuanian Basketball League), also known as Betsafe LKL for sponsorship reasons, is the premier professional men's club basketball league in Lithuania. It is composed of 12 teams, and it is a member o ...

(LKL), after losing the final's best-of-seven series 4–3. Pocius averaged 18.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists in the season. Pocius also helped Žalgiris Kaunas win second place in the

LKF Cup The LKF Cup was an annual national domestic cup competition for Lithuanian professional basketball teams. It was organised by the Lithuanian Basketball Federation (Lietuvos Krepšinio Federacija - LKF). The competition's full name was Lietuvos Kre ...

tournament and third place 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 ...

. During his second season with the team, Pocius led Žalgiris Kaunas to the Top 16 once more, but the team did move to the next round. Pocius averaged 10.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 16 games during his second Euroleague season, improving every individual stat. Though, Žalgiris Kaunas went on to win the LKF Cup, the BBL title, and the LKL championship. Pocius missed the LKL finals due to a season-ending injury. He averaged 10.7 points, 2.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists throughout the season.

Real Madrid (2011–2013)

On 27 July 2011 it was announced that Pocius signed a contract with Real Madrid. Despite solid play in the first season with Real Madrid, his game declined in the second season, due to numerous injuries. He won the Copa del Rey de Baloncesto in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

, and the Liga ACB 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 ...

. Pocius left Real Madrid in July 2013.

Žalgiris Kaunas (2013–2014)

Pocius returned to Žalgiris Kaunas in August 2013, signing a one-year deal. Pocius played solidly in the EuroLeague, helping the team reach the Top 16 stage despite suffering from injuries in the Top 16. Pocius finished the EuroLeague season averaging 10.8 points per game and helped Žalgiris Kaunas win the LKL championship, beating Lietuvos rytas Vilnius in the semifinals, and Neptūnas Klaipėda in the finals. Pocius left Žalgiris Kaunas in July 2014.

Galatasaray (2014–2015)

On 20 August 2014, Pocius officially signed a 1+1 contract with the Turkish team Galatasaray Istanbul. He averaged 6,2 points in the Euroleague competition.

Žalgiris Kaunas (2015–2017)

On 29 July 2015, Pocius returned to Žalgiris Kaunas, signing a 1+1 contract. After a difficult season where Pocius struggled with injuries and playing, and helping Žalgiris Kaunas to another LKL championship, he was loaned to UCAM Murcia. On 16 June 2017, Pocius announced his retirement from professional basketball being just 31 years old due to injuries and pain he suffered while exercising.

Post-playing career

Shortly after retiring Pocius joined the Denver Nuggets of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA) as a basketball operations associate in August 2017. On 15 February 2019, Pocius signed a multi-year contract extension with the Nuggets.

National team career

Pocius has played for Lithuania national teams in several tournaments. He played in the 2004 European U-18 Championship in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, where he showed himself as a team leader, averaging 26 points, 3 rebounds and 2.3 assists. Pocius also represented Lithuania at the 2006 European U-20 Championship in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, where he led the team to a seventh-place finish, averaging 20 points per game. After his senior year at Duke, Pocius represented Lithuania at the 2009 Summer Universiade in Belgrade,

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

, where he led the team to a fifth-place finish, averaging 13.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists. In 2010, Pocius made his debut with the Lithuanian men's national team at the

2010 FIBA World Championship The 2010 FIBA World Championship was the 16th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship contested by the men's national teams. The tournament ran from 28 August to 12 September 2010. It was co-organised by the Inte ...

in Turkey, where he was one of the leaders of the team and helped lead them to the bronze medals.

Career statistics

Euroleague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2009–10 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", Žalgiris , 16 , , 2 , , 19.3 , , .417 , , .383 , , .727 , , 2.1 , , 1.4 , , .6 , , .3 , , 8.1 , , 6.3 , - , 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. ...

, 16 , , 8 , , 23.9 , , .396 , , .300 , , .708 , , 2.7 , , 2.3 , , .4 , , .1 , , 10.9 , , 8.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", Real Madrid , 14 , , 1 , , 15.2 , , .400 , , .250 , , .903 , , 1.6 , , .9 , , .2 , , .1 , , 7.4 , , 5.5 , - , 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 ...

, 12 , , 0 , , 10.2 , , .371 , , .211 , , 1.000 , , .8 , , .3 , , .3 , , .0 , , 3.2 , , 2.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;", Žalgiris , 20 , , 17 , , 23.2 , , .416 , , .358 , , .780 , , 2.9 , , 2.5 , , .4 , , .1 , , 10.8 , , 9.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;",

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

, 19 , , 7 , , 20.6 , , .376 , , .317 , , .767 , , 1.7 , , 1.4 , , .3 , , .1 , , 6.2 , , 4.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;", Žalgiris , 19 , , 5 , , 14.1 , , .343 , , .192 , , .667 , , 1.8 , , .8 , , .1 , , .0 , , 3.4 , , 1.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 116 , , 40 , , 18.5 , , .395 , , .313 , , .764 , , 2.0 , , 1.4 , , .3 , , .1 , , 7.3 , , 5.5