Gabrielius "Gabas" Maldūnas (born 19 April 1993) 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 who plays as a

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

for Lietkabelis Panevėžys 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) and the EuroCup. He graduated from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

in 2015.

Early life

Maldūnas was born in

Panevėžys Panevėžys () is the fifth-largest List of cities in Lithuania, city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, eighth-most-populous city in the Baltic States. it occupies with 89,100 inhabitants. As defined by Eu ...

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 ...

where he went to school and played basketball until 2008. In the summer of 2008 he went to the US to study and play basketball at

Holderness School The Holderness School is a private, coeducational college- preparatory school in Holderness, near Plymouth, New Hampshire in the United States. The student body of 300 is drawn from 22 U.S. states and 14 foreign countries. While Holderness oper ...

. He played there for three years and each year his team made the

NEPSAC The New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) is an organization that serves as the governing body for sports in preparatory schools and leagues in New England. The organization has 169 full member schools as well as 24 associate ...

playoffs, reaching the finals once. In his senior year of high school, Gabas was the team’s captain, averaging 18 points and 8 rebounds.

College career

Maldūnas had a very successful career at

, appearing in 102 games for the Big Green. He is one of four Ivy League players to ever score 1,000 points, and record over 700 rebounds, 100 assists, 100 blocks and 100 steals. During his sophomore year Gabas was selected to the All-Ivy second team. He continued playing strong during his junior year, but his season was cut short due to an ACL injury on January 20, 2014. He came back for his senior year and helped the Big Green achieve their best record since 1998-1999 season. He was selected to the All-Ivy second team for the second time in his career along with his teammate

Alex Mitola Alex is a given name. Similar names are Alexander, Alexandra, Alexey or Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Cook (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Forsyth (disambiguation), multiple people *Alexand ...

. Maldunas' game-winning shot in the last game of the season against Yale was on SC Top 10 and it helped the Big Green to get invited to the first post season tournament since 1959. However, they lost to

Canisius Canisius may refer to: People * Saint Peter Canisius (1521–1597), Dutch Jesuit Catholic priest * Theodorich Canisius (1532–1606), Jesuit academic, half-brother of St. Peter Canisius * Henricus Canisius (1562–1610), Dutch canonist and histor ...

in the first round of the CIT Tournament. Gabas finished his Dartmouth career 22nd on the scoring list, 3rd in career blocked shots and 4th in rebounds. He was the first Dartmouth player in 56 years to record 1,000 points and 700 rebounds and only the second ever to record 100 career blocks and 100 steals. In June 2015 he graduated with an Economics degree and went on to play professional basketball in Europe.

Professional career

CB Peñas Huesca

On 28 August 2015, Maldūnas signed to play in the second-tier league in Spain for

CB Peñas Huesca Club Baloncesto Peñas Huesca is a Spanish professional basketball team based in Huesca, Aragón. The team currently plays in league LEB Plata. History The team played in Liga ACB, where they stayed from 1983 to 1996. After winning the relega ...

. During the regular season he averaged 10 points and 6.6 rebounds while helping a very young and inexperienced Peñas team record 16 wins and 14 losses and make the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

as the 7th seed. In the

the Peñas made it all the way to the finals after beating

Oviedo CB Oviedo Club Baloncesto, also known as Alimerka Oviedo Baloncesto for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball team based in Oviedo, Asturias, that plays in the Spanish LEB Oro league. History First years Oviedo CB was founded in 2004 t ...

3-1 in the first round and

CB Miraflores Club Baloncesto San Pablo Burgos, S.A.D., previously known as Club Baloncesto Miraflores and also known as Silbö San Pablo Burgos by sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball team based in Burgos, Spain and plays in the Coliseum Burgos. ...

also 3-1 in the semifinals. However, the team lost the final series 3-0 to

Club Melilla Baloncesto Club Melilla Baloncesto is a professional basketball team based in Melilla that plays in the LEB league. This is the only team in Spain that played all LEB seasons. The team's home arena is the Pabellón Javier Imbroda Ortiz (formerly known as ...

Palencia Baloncesto

On 7 July 2016, Maldūnas signed with the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

LEB Oro champions

Palencia Baloncesto Palencia Baloncesto, officially named as Super Agropal Palencia, is a Spanish professional basketball team based in Palencia, Castile and León. The team currently plays in league Primera FEB. History The club was founded in 1979 at Colegio Marist ...

. He led his team to the finals by scoring 20 points and getting 8 rebounds in the series deciding game against

. The team lost in the finals to

Nevėžis Kėdainiai

On 4 August 2017, Maldūnas signed with Nevėžis Kėdainiai of the

(LKL). The team finished in 8th place in

2017–18 LKL season The 2017–18 Lietuvos krepšinio lyga, also called Betsafe-LKL for sponsorship reasons, was the 25th season of the top-tier level professional basketball league of Lithuania, the Lietuvos krepšinio lyga Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL; ), als ...

and lost to

BC Žalgiris Basketball Club Žalgiris () commonly known as BC Žalgiris, is a professional basketball club based in Kaunas, Lithuania. They compete domestically in the Lietuvos krepšinio lyga, Lithuanian Basketball League (''Lietuvos krepšinio lyga'') and ...

in the first round of the playoffs. In

2018–19 LKL season The 2018–19 Lietuvos krepšinio lyga, also called Betsafe-LKL for sponsorship reasons, was the 26th season of the top-tier level professional basketball league of Lithuania, the Lietuvos krepšinio lyga Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL; ), al ...

the team finished in 9th place.

Lietkabelis Panevėžys

On 11 July 2019, Maldūnas signed with Lietkabelis Panevėžys of the

(LKL). The team finished in third place in

2019–20 LKL season The 2019–20 Lietuvos krepšinio lyga, also called Betsafe-LKL for sponsorship reasons, was the 27th season of the top-tier level professional basketball league of Lithuania, the Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL). On 13 March 2020, season was ended ...

and also won bronze medal in King Mindaugas Cup. The team also made it to the playoffs of the

Basketball Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL), also commonly known as the FIBA Champions League, is an annual professional basketball competition for European sports club, clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the European professional club basketball system ...

. On 7 July 2022, Maldūnas signed a two-year contract extension with the club. On 25 January 2025, Maldūnas missed the first game of his professional career due to a shoulder injury, ending a streak of 516 consecutive games played.

Personal life

While at Dartmouth, Maldunas was a member of

Beta Alpha Omega Dartmouth College is host to many fraternities and sororities, and a significant percentage of the undergraduate student body is active in Greek life. In the fall of 2022, 35 percent of male students belonged to a fraternity, and 36 percent of st ...

fraternity and Sphinx Senior Society.

References

External links

Dartmouth Big Green bio

RealGM profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maldunas, Gabrielius 1993 births Living people BC Lietkabelis players CB Peñas Huesca players Centers (basketball) Dartmouth Big Green men's basketball players Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Spain Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in the United States Lithuanian men's basketball players 21st-century Lithuanian sportsmen Palencia Baloncesto players Power forwards Sportspeople from Panevėžys 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup players