Gundars Vētra (born 22 May 1967) is a Latvian 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 and a current coach. Standing at , he played at the

shooting guard 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 basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

and

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three, is one of the five Basketball position, positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than Power forward (basketball), power forwards and Cent ...

positions. He was the first Latvian to play in 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 ...

(NBA). He appeared in 13 games for the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 1992–1993 season.

Coaching career

After finishing his playing career, Vētra became a coach. He first started as head coach of Barons, leading them to their first ever LBL finals appearance in 2005. For the 2005–06 season he was an assistant to Sharon Drucker with Ural Great. Following a season in Russia, Vētra returned to Latvia, where he re-united with Barons. His second stint with Barons wasn't as good as expected, and Vētra left them to try his hand in women's basketball. After four seasons in Russia he went back to Latvia, joining BK Ventspils, where his team made the Latvian League finals.

Personal life

Vētra has two daughters who played NCAA Division I college basketball. Laura played at Fairfield Stags from 2009 to 2013. Ruta was a guard at NJIT Highlanders from 2013 to 2017.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , align="left" , 1992–93 , align="left" ,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, 13 , , 0 , , 6.8 , , .475, , 1.000 , , .667 , , .6 , , .5 , , .2 , , .0 , , 3.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 13 , , 0 , , 6.8 , , .475 , , 1.000 , , .667 , , .6 , , .5 , , .2 , , .0 , , 3.5

External links

Gundars Vētra
at basketball-reference.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Vetra, Gundars 1967 births Living people BC Spartak Saint Petersburg coaches BK VEF Rīga players Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Galatasaray S.K. (men's basketball) players Latvian basketball coaches Latvian expatriate basketball people in Italy Latvian expatriate basketball people in Russia Latvian expatriate basketball people in Turkey Latvian expatriate basketball people in the United States Latvian men's basketball players Minnesota Timberwolves players NBA players from Latvia Olympic basketball players for the Unified Team Sportspeople from Ventspils Rochester Renegade players Shooting guards Small forwards Soviet men's basketball players Undrafted NBA players 1990 FIBA World Championship players Goodwill Games medalists in basketball Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games Expatriate basketball coaches