Artūrs Mārtiņš Žagars (born 21 April 2000) is a Latvian 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 Fenerbahçe Beko of the Turkish BSL and the

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 ...

. Standing at , he primarily plays at the

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 ...

position.

Professional career

Early career

Žagars spent much of his early career playing for Latvian club BS DSN Riga.

Joventut Badalona

In 2017, Žagars signed a long-term contract with Spanish club

Joventut Badalona Club Joventut Badalona, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional basketball club based in Badalona, Catalonia, Spain, playing in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup. Known to their fans as ''La Penya'' (in English, ''The Club''), it is one of only two team ...

. On 11 March 2018, Žagars made his

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

debut, scoring two points in seven minutes versus Baskonia. In November 2018, Žagars suffered a torn ligament in his ankle and was sidelined until early March 2019 after undergoing surgery. On 19 April 2019, Žagars declared for the

2019 NBA draft The 2019 NBA draft was held on June 20, 2019. It took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible p ...

Loan Period from Joventut Badalona

On 16 February 2021, Žagars was loaned to Estonian powerhouse Kalev/Cramo. On 12 January 2022, he was loaned to

Löwen Braunschweig Löwen, literally meaning "lions", may refer to: Music *Lowen (band), an English heavy metal band from London Places *Leuven or , the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium *Lewin Brzeski or ...

of the German

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the German basketball league system, highest level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in German ...

. He averaged 7.3 points, 2.7 assists, 1.2 rebounds in 13 domestic league matches.

Nevėžis Kėdainiai

On 20 July 2022, Žagars signed with Nevėžis Kėdainiai 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). In 22 league matches, he averaged 15.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.1 steals per contest.

Fenerbahçe Beko

On 18 September 2023, Žagars signed a three-year contract with Turkish giants Fenerbahçe.

Loan to Wolves

He was subsequently loaned to Lithuanian club

BC Wolves Basketball Club Wolves, officially named Wolves Twinsbet for sponsorship reasons, was a professional basketball club based in Vilnius, Lithuania. The team competed in the Lietuvos krepšinio lyga, Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL). The team pla ...

for the 2023–24 season. On 14 October 2023, in a

Lietuvos krepšinio lyga Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL; ), also known as Betsafe LKL for sponsorship reasons, is the premier men's professional club basketball league in Lithuania. It is composed of 10 teams, and it is a member of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation. ...

match against

Lietkabelis BC Lietkabelis (), commonly known as Lietkabelis Panevėžys, also known as 7bet-Lietkabelis for sponsorship reasons, is a Lithuanian professional basketball club based in Panevėžys, Lithuania, participating in the Lietuvos krepšinio lyga, Lit ...

, Žagars suffered a severe injury to the lateral ligament of his knee, missing 6 months. After his recovery, he averaged 10.3 points, 3.4 assists, 1.7 rebounds in 7 domestic league matches.

Back to Fenerbahçe

On 4 October 2024, he made his

debut against

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

in a 82-71 victory in

Ülker Sports Arena Ülker is a Turkish multinational corporation, multinational food and beverage manufacturer based in Istanbul, Turkey. Its products are exported internationally, to 110 countries. Ülker's core products are biscuits, cookies, crackers, and choc ...

with 3 points, all from free throws performance. On 6 October 2024, he made his

Basketbol Süper Ligi The Basketball Super League (; TBSL), also known as the Türkiye Sigorta Basketbol Süper Ligi for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's professional basketball division of the Turkish basketball league system. It replaced the former Turkish Bas ...

debut against Onvo Büyükçekmece, his 19 points and 4 assists with 15 pir performance helped team for 97-85 victory. On 10 October 2024, he recorded 11 points and 3 assists with 12 pir performance against domestic rival

Anadolu Efes Anadolu Efes Spor Kulübü, commonly referred to as Anadolu Efes or simply Efes, is a Turkish professional basketball team based in Istanbul. Founded in 1976, the club was formerly known as Efes Pilsen until 2011. Efes is the 2021–22 EuroLeagu ...

in a 78-83 away victory. On 29 November 2024, he recorded 16 points (career high), 2 rebounds and 3 assists with 21 pir (career high) performance againct

Olimpia Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

but he couldnt prevent the defeat. He helped Fenerbahçe to their second EuroLeague championship.

National team career

Žagars was named to the All-Star Five of the

2018 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship The 2018 FIBA U18 European Championship was the 35th edition of the FIBA U18 European Championship. The competition took place in Riga, Ventspils and Liepāja, Latvia, from 28 July to 5 August 2018. Participating teams * * (Winners, 2017 FIBA ...

in Riga after averaging 18.9 points, 6.3 assists, and 1.9 steals per game, while leading the Latvian national under-18 team to its first finals appearance and silver medal at the tournament. Žagars represented Latvia during the

2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 19th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams, held from 25 August to 10 September 2023. The tournament was the second to feature 32 teams and was hosted by multipl ...

which achieved 5th place during its debut. Moreover, Žagars achieved the world cup's all-time record of assists by dishing out 17 assists in a game versus

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 ...

. In recognition of his individual play, Žagars was named to the All-FIBA World Cup Second Team.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;background:#AFE6BA;", 2024–25 , style="text-align:left;", Fenerbahçe Beko , 22 , , 13 , , 14.5 , , .429 , , .324 , , .750 , , 1.1 , , 2.3 , , .4 , , .1 , , 5.9 , , 5.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 22 , , 13 , , 14.5 , , .429 , , .324 , , .750 , , 1.1 , , 2.3 , , .4 , , .1 , , 5.9 , , 5.8

EuroCup

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="3",

, 10 , , 3 , , 10.4 , , .385 , , .333 , , .750 , , .7 , , 1.8 , , .5 , , .0 , , 2.7 , , 2.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 7 , , 0 , , 4.6 , , .222 , , .200 , , .667 , , .1 , , .6 , , .1 , , .0 , , 1.0 , , 0.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , 3 , , 0 , , 15.0 , , .467 , , .286 , , .500 , , .3 , , 2.0 , , .3 , , .0 , , 5.7 , , 3.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;",

, 1 , , 1 , , 24.0 , , .383 , , .400 , , .1000 , , 1.0 , , 4.0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 10.0 , , 7.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 21 , , 4 , , 10.1 , , .352 , , .310 , , .727 , , .5 , , 1.5 , , .3 , , .0 , , 2.9 , , 1.5

Domestic leagues

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:100%; text-align:right;" ! Year ! Team ! League ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , , style="text-align:left;",

, , style="text-align:center;", ACB , , 4 , , 9.0 , , .429 , , .500 , , .000 , , 1.5 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 4.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , , style="text-align:left;",

, , style="text-align:center;", ACB , , 2 , , 1.0 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 0.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , , style="text-align:left;", Prat , , style="text-align:center;", FEB , , 13 , , 17.4 , , .400 , , .347 , , .639 , , 1.5 , , 2.5 , , .5 , , .0 , , 8.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , , style="text-align:left;",

, , style="text-align:center;", ACB , , 21 , , 8.8 , , .311 , , .212 , , .700 , , .6 , , 1.5 , , .2 , , .0 , , 2.5 , - , style="text-align:left;",

, , style="text-align:left;",

, , style="text-align:center;", ACB , , 11 , , 5.0 , , .368 , , .300 , , .833 , , .5 , , .8 , , .2 , , .0 , , 2.0 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#AFE6BA;",

† , , style="text-align:left;", Kalev/Cramo, , style="text-align:center;",

KML Keyhole Markup Language (KML) is an XML notation for expressing geographic annotation and visualization within two-dimensional maps and three-dimensional Earth browsers. KML was developed for use with Google Earth, which was originally named Key ...

, , ? , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ? , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , , style="text-align:left;",

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

, , style="text-align:center;", BBL , , 13 , , 17.7 , , .338 , , .359 , , .674 , , 1.2 , , 2.7 , , .6 , , .0 , , 7.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, , style="text-align:left;", Nevėžis Kėdainiai, , style="text-align:center;", LKL , , 22 , , 28.2 , , .458 , , .348 , , .738 , , 3.0 , , 4.4 , , 1.1 , , .0 , , 15.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , , style="text-align:left;", Fenerbahçe Beko, , style="text-align:center;", BSL , , 0 , , 0.0 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 0.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , , style="text-align:left;",

, , style="text-align:center;", LKL , , 7 , , 18.0 , , .313 , , .303 , , .846 , , 1.7 , , 3.4 , , 0.6 , , .0 , , 10.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2024–25 , , style="text-align:left;", Fenerbahçe Beko, , style="text-align:center;", BSL , , ''17'' , , ''18.3'' , , ''.550'' , , ''.380'' , , ''.827'' , , ''1.2'' , , ''3.1'' , , ''1.1'' , , ''.1'' , , ''8.5'' Current season information is written in ''italics''.