Zydrunas Ilgauskas (; ; born June 5, 1975) is a Lithuanian-born American former 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 who played the center position. The Ilgauskas played for the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

of the

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

from 1997 to 2010 and played for the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...

during the 2010–11 season. He was named to the 1997–98 All-Rookie First Team and is a two-time NBA All-Star. Ilgauskas played in the 2007 NBA Finals as a member of the Cavaliers. He is known for his accurate jump shot, for his rebounding, and for overcoming difficult injury challenges during his career. Nicknamed Big Z, Ilgauskas is the Cavaliers' career leader in blocked shots; his jersey no. 11 has been retired by the team. In 2012, Ilgauskas joined the Cavaliers' front office, becoming a special advisor to the organization.

Professional career

Atletas (1993–1996)

Ilgauskas made his professional debut in his birthplace of

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

, with local club Atletas in 1993. He averaged 20.3 points, 12.8 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game in the 1994–95 season.

Cleveland Cavaliers (1996–2010)

Ilgauskas was selected by the

with the 20th overall pick in the

1996 NBA draft The 1996 NBA draft was the 50th NBA draft, draft in the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was held on June 26, 1996–97 NBA season, 1996, at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In this draft, NBA teams took turns s ...

. On August 1, 1996, he signed a multi-year deal with the Cavaliers. In the earliest parts of his career he suffered through a myriad of foot and ankle injuries. He spent the entire 1996–97 season on the injured list due to a broken bone in his right foot. He was named the

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 ...

of the Rookie Challenge during All-Star Weekend and selected to the All-Rookie First Team in 1997–98. He signed a contract extension in 1998 that was worth $70.9 million over six years. However, Ilgauskas played in only five games over the next two seasons. On January 26, 2000, he had a surgery on a fractured navicular bone in his left foot. He regained the starting center spot for the Cavaliers in 2000–01. He was injured again in December 2000 and was out for the season. The injury dealt a blow to the Cavaliers. After winning 15 out of 23 games with Ilgauskas, they finished with a 30–52 record. He returned in December 2001 and was mostly used as a backup to Chris Mihm for the rest of the season. Ilgauskas averaged 17.2 points and 7.5 rebounds in 2002–03. He was selected as an All-Star, but the Cavaliers finished with the third-worst record in team history (17–65) and landed the number one draft pick. The Cavaliers drafted high school phenomenon and future NBA MVP

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...

in 2003. James teamed up with Ilgauskas and Drew Gooden to form the core of the team. Ilgauskas only missed nine games over the next three seasons and was selected as an All-Star again in 2005. Zydrunas Cavs

On July 12, 2005, Ilgauskas signed a contract extension with the Cavaliers. The deal was reportedly worth over $55 million over five years. For the next four seasons, Ilgauskas was the starting center for the team, which had turned into a contender. They reached the NBA Finals in 2007 and the Eastern Conference Finals in 2009. In summer 2009, the Cavaliers acquired

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), commonly known as Shaq ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. He is a and Center (basketball), center ...

. When asked about the trade, Ilgauskas responded: "I was just reading the news. That means I'll probably be coming off the bench." On December 2, 2009, Ilgauskas came off the bench in a game against

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

to break the team record for career games played, overtaking then-general manager

Danny Ferry Daniel John Willard Ferry (born October 17, 1966) is an American executive and former professional basketball player who played the forward position. Considered one of the most celebrated basketball players in the United States from the high sc ...

. On February 17, 2010, Ilgauskas, along with a 2010 first round pick and the rights to Emir Preldžič, was traded from the Cavaliers to the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays i ...

as part of a three-team, six-player trade that sent Antawn Jamison from Washington to Cleveland, Al Thornton from the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

to Washington, Drew Gooden from Washington to Los Angeles, and Sebastian Telfair from Los Angeles to Cleveland. On February 25, 2010, the Wizards bought out his contract, making him a free agent. Ilgauskas did not play in any games for the Wizards. It was possible for Ilgauskas to return to the Cavaliers, but only after a 30-day waiting period policy required for players traded from their former teams after being bought out of their contract by their new team. He was still free to sign with any other team. On March 23, 2010, Ilgauskas signed a one-year deal for the remainder of the 2009–10 season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He made his return a day later in a win over the

New Orleans Hornets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

. In his first home game back with the team, against the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

, Ilgauskas received huge ovations and support from the crowd. Quicken Loans Arena was affectionately renamed "The Z" for the day, in honor of the Lithuanian. The

2010 NBA playoffs The 2010 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 2009-10 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers defeating the Eastern Conference champion Boston Cel ...

marked the first time in Ilgauskas' career in which he was not a significant part of the Cavaliers' rotation. Ilgauskas saw only 69 minutes of floor time in the entire postseason, resulting in averages of 1.7 PPG and 1.6 RPG, far below his career playoff production. The Cavaliers were eliminated by the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

in the Eastern Conference semifinals. On March 8, 2014, Ilgauskas' number 11 was retired by the

. At the time, he was only the third European to be honored in this way by an NBA team, after

Dražen Petrović Dražen Petrović (; 22 October 1964 – 7 June 1993) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s with Cibona and Real Madri ...

and

Vlade Divac Vlade Divac ( sr-Cyrl, Владе Дивац, ; born February 3, 1968) is a Serbian professional basketball executive and former player who was most recently the vice president of basketball operations and general manager of the Sacramento King ...

Miami Heat (2010–2011)

On July 17, 2010, Ilgauskas signed with the

. The Heat's signings of

Chris Bosh Christopher Wesson Bosh (born March 24, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. A Texas Mr. Basketball in high school, he played one season of college basketball for Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's basketball, Georgia Tech ...

and long-time teammate

influenced Ilgauskas' decision to join the Heat. On December 2, during the Heat's first game in Cleveland, the fans cheered Ilgauskas in pre-game introductions, while booing the rest of the starters, including James. The Heat made it to the 2011 NBA Finals, but fell short to the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

in six games. In September 2011, Ilgauskas announced that he was retiring from basketball, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family as well as citing long-term personal physical fatigue and basic bodily wear-and-tear.

National team career

Ilgauskas made his debut with the Lithuania national team in 1994, when the team was qualifying for a spot in the

EuroBasket 1995 The 1995 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1995, was the 29th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 1996 Summer Olympics, giving a berth to e ...

. He averaged 7.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. He later wanted to play for the Lithuania national team in 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 ...

, but the Cavaliers did not permit him to play due to his injury history.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

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, 5 , , 5 , , 34.2 , , .509 , , , , .600 , , 8.8 , , .8 , , .8 , , 1.4 , , 15.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 24 , , 24 , , 25.7 , , .487 , , .000 , , .679 , , 6.7 , , .8 , , .6 , , 1.5 , , 11.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 62 , , 23 , , 21.4 , , .425 , , .000 , , .754 , , 5.4 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , 1.4 , , 11.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 81 , , 81 , , 30.0 , , .441 , , .000 , , .781 , , 7.5 , , 1.6 , , .7 , , 1.9 , , 17.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 81 , , 81 , , 31.3 , , .483 , , .286 , , .746 , , 8.1 , , 1.3 , , .5 , , 2.5 , , 15.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 78 , , 78 , , 33.5 , , .468 , , .286 , , .799 , , 8.6 , , 1.3 , , .7 , , 2.1 , , 16.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 78 , , 78 , , 29.3 , , .506 , , .000 , , .834 , , 7.6 , , 1.2 , , .5 , , 1.7 , , 15.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 78 , , 78 , , 27.3 , , .485 , , .000 , , .807 , , 7.7 , , 1.6 , , .6 , , 1.3 , , 11.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 73 , , 73 , , 30.4 , , .474 , , .000 , , .802 , , 9.3 , , 1.4 , , .5 , , 1.6 , , 14.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 65 , , 65 , , 27.2 , , .472 , , .385 , , .799 , , 7.5 , , 1.0 , , .4 , , 1.3 , , 12.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 64 , , 6 , , 20.9 , , .443 , , .478 , , .743 , , 5.4 , , .8 , , .2 , , .8 , , 7.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

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Playoffs

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1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

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2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

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, 13 , , 13 , , 27.2 , , .454 , , , , .750 , , 6.3 , , .8 , , .4 , , 2.1 , , 10.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

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, 20 , , 20 , , 32.5 , , .492 , , , , .838 , , 9.7 , , .9 , , .5 , , .8 , , 12.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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, 13 , , 13 , , 30.2 , , .479 , , , , .818 , , 7.5 , , 1.6 , , .4 , , 1.1 , , 13.1 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

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, 14 , , 14 , , 29.1 , , .449 , , .154 , , .636 , , 7.8 , , 1.2 , , .4 , , .9 , , 10.5 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

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, 7 , , 0 , , 9.9 , , .385 , , , , .667 , , 1.6 , , .4 , , .0 , , 1.0 , , 1.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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, 9 , , 8 , , 11.6 , , .467 , , , , .667 , , 3.6 , , .3 , , .0 , , .3 , , 3.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 80 , , 72 , , 26.5 , , .477 , , .154 , , .744 , , 6.9 , , .9 , , .3 , , 1.1 , , 10.2

Front office work

On January 11, 2012, Ilgauskas made a return to Cleveland when he was hired by then Cleveland Cavaliers GM Chris Grant to serve as his assistant. His duties included evaluating amateur and pro talent prospects.

Coaching career

On September 18, 2015, Ilgauskas joined Saint Ignatius High School as the assistant coach for the boys' team.

Personal life

Ilgauskas and his wife were married during the summer of 2004. In 2007, the couple lost a set of twins due to pregnancy complications that caused the infants to be born four months premature. In the summer of 2009, Ilgauskas adopted two Lithuanian brothers (aged five and four at the time) from his hometown of Kaunas. On September 13, 2022, it was announced that Ilgauskas' wife died at the age of 50 on September 11. Ilgauskas is an avid reader. He particularly enjoys military history. During his playing career, he often read in the locker room before games. Ilgauskas became a United States citizen in 2013. In doing so, he lost his Lithuanian citizenship, as Lithuania limits the possibility of dual citizenship.

References

External links

ESPN.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilgauskas, Zydrunas 1975 births Living people Basketball players from Kaunas Centers (basketball) Cleveland Cavaliers draft picks Cleveland Cavaliers executives Cleveland Cavaliers players Lithuanian emigrants to the United States Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in the United States Lithuanian men's basketball players LSU-Atletas basketball players Miami Heat players NBA All-Stars NBA players from Lithuania NBA players with retired numbers Naturalized citizens of the United States

Professional career

Atletas (1993–1996)

Cleveland Cavaliers (1996–2010)

Miami Heat (2010–2011)

National team career

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Front office work

Coaching career

Personal life

See also

References

External links