Kaspars Bērziņš (born 25 August 1985) 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. He has also represented the senior Latvian national team.

Professional career

Kaspars started playing basketball in his hometown of

Ogre An ogre (feminine: ogress) is a legendary monster depicted as a large, hideous, man-like being that eats ordinary human beings, especially infants and children. Ogres frequently feature in mythology, folklore, and fiction throughout the world ...

. Later, he played for

Skonto Riga Skonto FC was a Latvian professional football club, active from 1991 until 2016. The club played at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Skonto won the Virsliga in the first 14 seasons of the league's resumption (15 in total), and often provided the cor ...

, debuting in the 2002–2003 season. His role increased in 2003–2004, when he averaged 7.3 points and 3.3 rebounds for Skonto in the LBL and 7.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in the FIBA Europe League, now known as the FIBA EuroCup. In both of those seasons, Bērziņš played together with

Andris Biedriņš Andris Biedriņš (; born 2 April 1986) is a Latvian former professional basketball player. He was drafted by the Golden State Warriors with the 11th overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft. Professional career Skonto (2002–2004) Biedriņš's p ...

. In 2004, both of them left Skonto. Biedriņš was drafted in the

NBA 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 ...

by the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

, while Bērziņš moved to Spain, where he joined Unicaja Málaga. He briefly played for Unicaja's first team, where he competed in one game in the

ACB league 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 ...

, scoring two points, but most of his season was spent with the junior team in the

EBA Ẹ̀bà ( Yoruba) also known as Ebe or Pinon' (in Togo, Benin, and southern Ghana) is a staple swallow from Nigeria, Togo and Benin, also eaten in the West African sub-region and other African countries. The term èbà originates from Yoruba. ...

, Spain's second division. For the 2004–2005 season, Bērziņš moved back to Latvia, playing a big role for Skonto. He averaged 13.0 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 21.3 minutes in the LBL and 14.8 points and 8.3 rebounds in four

EuroCup Challenge The FIBA EuroCup Challenge was the 4th-tier level transnational professional continental club basketball competition in Europe, organised by FIBA Europe. However, it was Europe's 3rd-tier level club basketball competition in its inaugural 2002� ...

games. After Skonto disappeared, Bērziņš moved to ASK Rīga, where he played the 2005–2006 season. In the following off-season, Bērziņš signed with

Barons LMT BK Barons/LDz (previously Barons/LMT) was a professional basketball club who was based in Riga, Latvia. The team played in the first division of the Latvian Basketball League. History Barons Kvartāls played an integral part in Latvia's basketb ...

, where he played the next three seasons and won his first Latvian league title in 2008. During that season, Bērziņš won the FIBA EuroCup as well. 2008–2009 was his best season with Barons, when he was the team's top inside presence for most of the season, averaging 14.0 points, 8.rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 28 games of domestic competition. In July 2009, Bērziņš participated in 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 ...

, playing for the

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 ...

. After playing for Phoenix in the Summer League competition, Bērziņš signed a contract with Spain's ACB League club

Fuenlabrada Fuenlabrada () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 193,586, making it the region's fourth most populated municipality. Placename The etymology of ''Fuenlabrada'' comes from the contra ...

. Later, he also played for

Cáceres Ciudad del Baloncesto Cáceres Ciudad del Baloncesto, also named as Cáceres Patrimonio de la Humanidad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball team based in Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. It plays in the LEB Oro, the second in importance in Spain after A ...

, but in July 2010, he signed a two-year contract with VEF Rīga. He re-signed with VEF Rīga for three more years in 2012. In February 2014, he went back to Spain and signed with Río Natura Monbús for the rest of the 2013–14 ACB season. On 21 August 2014, Bērziņš signed with Russian club Krasnye Krylia for the 2014–15 season. On 16 June 2015, he signed with

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

. In January 2016, he left Nizhny and signed with

Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (, ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, according to some Russian sources), the club plays in the Russian Pr ...

for the rest of the season. For the 2016–17 season, Bērziņš started with Latvian club Ogre/Kumho Tyre, but in January 2017 he returned to Russia and signed with Lokomotiv Kuban for the rest of the season. On February 21, 2023, Bērziņš signed with New Taipei CTBC DEA of the

T1 League The T1 League ( zh, T1聯盟) was a professional basketball league in Taiwan. It was the third Taiwanese professional basketball league after the now-defunct Chinese Basketball Alliance (CBA; 1994–1999) and P. League+ (PLG; founded in 2020). ...

Latvia national team

Kaspars Bērziņš averaged 16.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.1 blocks for Latvia at the

2005 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship The 2005 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship was the eighth edition of the FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship. The city of Chekhov, in Russia, hosted the tournament. Russia won their first title. Ukraine and the Czech Republic were relegated to Div ...

. Bērziņš has been a regular member of the Latvia national team.

References

External links

ACB league profileEuroCup profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berzins, Kaspars 1985 births Living people ASK Riga players Baloncesto Fuenlabrada players Baloncesto Málaga players BC Krasnye Krylia players BC Lietkabelis players BC Nizhny Novgorod players BC Zenit Saint Petersburg players BK Barons players BK VEF Rīga players Centers (basketball) Latvian expatriate basketball people in Lithuania Latvian expatriate basketball people in Russia Latvian expatriate basketball people in Spain Latvian men's basketball players Liga ACB players Obradoiro CAB players PBC Lokomotiv-Kuban players People from Ogre, Latvia Sportspeople from Vidzeme Power forwards New Taipei CTBC DEA players T1 League imports BK Ogre players Rīgas Zeļļi players