Ąžuolas Tubelis (born 22 March 2002) 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 ...

player for Rytas Vilnius of the

Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...

(LKL). He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

of the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

. A

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

, he was named first-team All-Pac-12 twice with the Wildcats.

Youth career

In May 2018, Tubelis won the 2017–18 Adidas Next Generation Tournament (ANGT) with the U18 team of Lietuvos rytas Vilnius. On 18 October 2018, he signed a long-term contract with Rytas Vilnius. In the 2018–19 season, he played for Perlas in the National Basketball League (NKL), the second-tier league of Lithuania. He averaged 9.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. In February 2019, Tubelis played for Rytas' U18 team at ANGT Kaunas, where he was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 15.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, three steals and 2.8 blocks per game. In June 2019, Tubelis took part in the

Basketball Without Borders Basketball Without Borders is a basketball instructional camp organized by the NBA in conjunction with FIBA. It presents itself as a “basketball development and community outreach program that unites young basketball players to promote the sport ...

Europe Camp in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

. In 2019–20, Tubelis split playing time between Perlas and Rytas' senior team, emerging as one of the top players in the NKL. He debuted for the senior team in a 6 October 2019 win over Juventus Utena. Tubelis scored an LKL season-high 11 points in a victory over

Šiauliai Šiauliai ( ; ) is a city in northern Lithuania, the List of cities in Lithuania, country's fourth largest city and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, sixth largest city in the Baltic States, with a population of 112 581 in 202 ...

on 1 February 2020. At ANGT Kaunas in February 2020, he averaged 20.5 points and 12.5 rebounds, leading Rytas' U18 team to first place and earning tournament

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

honors. Later that month, Tubelis participated in the Basketball Without Borders Global Camp at 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. In 25 NKL games, he averaged 16.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game.

College career

On 27 May 2020, Tubelis committed to play

for

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. He joined the team with his twin brother, Tautvilas. Tubelis was considered a four-star recruit by

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on college recruiting, athletic recruitment in college football and college basketball, basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount Global, Paramount. The website hosts a large ...

. On 2 February 2023, Tubelis posted a career-high 40 points and nine rebounds in an 91–76 win over

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. As a freshman, he averaged 12.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, and was named to the All-Pac-12 honorable mention and All-Freshman Team. Tubelis was named first-team All-Pac-12 as a sophomore and a junior. He declared for the NBA draft, but was not widely projected to be selected. According to

Seth Davis Seth Davis is an American sportswriter and broadcaster. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of Hoops HQ and is a host on Campus Insiders, an in-studio analyst for CBS men's college basketball coverage and an analyst for the NBA ...

of ''

The Athletic ''The Athletic'' is a subscription-based sports journalism department of ''The New York Times''. It provides national and local coverage in 47 North American cities as well as the United Kingdom. ''The Athletic'' also covers national stories ...

'', there were questions on his ability to

switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...

onto smaller players away from the basket. '' ArizonaSports.com'' wrote that his slow footspeed could be a concern.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2023 NBA draft The 2023 NBA draft, the 77th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual NBA draft, draft, was held on June 22, 2023, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The draft consisted of 58 picks instead of the typical 60 for the second ...

, Tubelis joined the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

for the

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season basketball competition organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA). NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regula ...

. Afterwards, on 17 July 2023, he signed a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless o ...

with the 76ers and their

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

affiliate, the

Delaware Blue Coats The Delaware Blue Coats are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Wilmington, Delaware. They are the G-League affiliates of the Philadelphia 76ers. The Blue Coats play their home games at Chase Fieldhouse. The Bl ...

. However, he was waived by the 76ers on 25 October. On 8 November, he re-signed with Rytas Vilnius and then was loaned to Neptūnas Klaipėda of the

(LKL). On 14 May 2024, Tubelis received the LKL Most Valuable Player Award after averaging 17.5 points, 7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks during the regular season. He led Neptūnas to an eight-game winning streak which helped the team secure a playoff spot.

National team career

Tubelis played for

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

at the

2016 FIBA U16 European Championship The 2016 FIBA U16 European Championship was the 30th edition of the FIBA U16 European Championship, European Under-16 Basketball Championship. Sixteen teams participated in the competition, held in Radom, Poland, from 12 to 20 August 2016. Bosnia ...

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship. Radom is the fifteenth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in its province w ...

, where he averaged 4.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. At the

2018 FIBA U16 European Championship The 2018 FIBA U16 European Championship was the 32nd edition of the Under-16 European Basketball Championship. The competition took place from 10 to 18 August 2018 in Novi Sad, Serbia. Sixteen (16) teams are participating, including 2017 Divisio ...

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

, he averaged 14.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game. Tubelis represented

at the

2019 FIBA U18 European Championship The 2019 FIBA U18 European Championship was the 36th edition of the FIBA U18 European Championship. The competition took place in Volos, Greece, from 27 July to 4 August 2019. Participating teams * * * * * * ''(Automatically qualified as hos ...

Volos Volos (; ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the capital of the Magnesia (regional unit), Magnesia regional unit of the Thessaly Region. Volos ...

, averaging 14.9 points, 12.6 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2020–21 , style="text-align:left;",

, 26 , , 20 , , 26.7 , , .498 , , .310 , , .692 , , 7.1 , , 1.2 , , .6 , , .6 , , 12.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 35 , , 24.6 , , .540 , , .263 , , .669 , , 6.2 , , 2.3 , , 1.1 , , .7 , , 13.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2022–23 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 34 , , 30.1 , , .570 , , .313 , , .764 , , 9.1 , , 2.0 , , 1.1 , , .7 , , 19.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 97 , , 89 , , 27.1 , , .544 , , .295 , , .714 , , 7.5 , , 1.9 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , 15.6

Personal life

Tubelis has a twin brother, Tautvilas, who also currently plays basketball for the Arizona Wildcats and has represented Lithuania at the international level. Tubelis' first name, Ąžuolas, translates to

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

in Lithuanian and was given to him by his grandfather.

References

External links

Arizona Wildcats bio

Proballers profile

RealGM profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tubelis, Ažuolas 2002 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players Arizona Wildcats men's basketball players Basketball players from Vilnius BC Neptūnas players BC Rytas players Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in the United States Lithuanian men's basketball players 21st-century Lithuanian sportsmen Lithuanian twins Power forwards