Lukas Lekavičius (born March 30, 1994) 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 for Žalgiris Kaunas 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

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 plays 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. He was named to the LKL All-Tournament Team in 2017.

Professional career

After spending his whole career in the Žalgiris Kaunas system, helping Žalgiris dominate the LKL scene, Lekavičius joined Panathinaikos, on a two-year contract, in 2017. He was personally chosen by the Panathinaikos

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

, Xavi Pascual, who had previously observed Lekavičius playing for a couple of years. Lekavičius chose the number 19 for his Panathinaikos jersey, which was previously used in the same club by Lithuanian players

Robertas Javtokas Robertas Javtokas (born March 20, 1980) is a Lithuanian professional basketball executive and former player. He most recently served as sports director of Žalgiris Kaunas. Standing at , he played the center position. He has been a member of th ...

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Jonas Mačiulis Jonas Mačiulis (born 10 February 1985) is a Lithuanian professional basketball executive and former player, currently serving as the general manager for BC Lietkabelis, Lietkabelis Panevėżys of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL). Standin ...

and Lekavičius' former coach

Šarūnas Jasikevičius Šarūnas Jasikevičius (; born 5 March 1976) is a Lithuanian professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for Fenerbahçe S.K. (basketball), Fenerbahçe Beko of the Turkish Basketbol Süper Ligi and the EuroLeague. Durin ...

. After spending two years in Greece, Lekavičius returned to Lithuania and signed with Žalgiris on a two-year (1+1) deal on 17 June 2019. He averaged 10.5 points and 2.8 assists per game. He re-signed with the club on 8 July 2020.

National team career

Lekavičius had notable performances with the Lithuania youth national teams, winning two European silver medals, and the world bronze medal in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. In 2015, Lekavičius was included into the senior

Lithuania men's national basketball team The Lithuania men's national basketball team () represents Lithuania in international basketball competitions. They are controlled by the Lithuanian Basketball Federation, the governing body for basketball in Lithuania. Despite Lithuania's small ...

candidates list, by the team's

Jonas Kazlauskas Jonas Kazlauskas (born 21 November 1954) is a Lithuanian professional basketball coach and former player. He was most recently the head coach of the Guangdong Southern Tigers in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). Playing career Kazlausk ...

. He was also invited to the team's training camp, and he then made it onto the main national team that competed at the

EuroBasket 2015 EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 Sept ...

, where he won a silver medal. In 2017, just before the start of the

EuroBasket 2017 EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe and held between 31 August and 17 September 2017. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships take place every four years with a similar ...

championship, Lekavičius suffered a foot injury that ultimately sidelined him for two months, and was replaced in the final 12-man squad by

Adas Juškevičius Adas Juškevičius (born 3 January 1989) is a Lithuanian professional basketball player for Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski of the Polish Basketball League (PLK). He is a combo guard who stands tall. Professional career Tecnyconta Zaragoza (2016–2 ...

. In 2019, Lekavičius represented Lithuania in the

2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 18th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams, held from 31 August to 15 September 2019. The tournament was hosted in China and was rescheduled from 2018 to 2019, b ...

. Despite the team falling short of its goals, he was a crucial asset, providing scoring off the bench as the backup point guard. In five games played, he averaged 13.0 points, with 65% overall shooting, 1.8 assists, 1.0 steals and 13.4 point efficiency rating in just 17.7 minutes of playing time.

Personal life

Lekavičius' has a couple of nicknames. His first nickname, Lightning McQueen (''Žaibas Makvynas''), was given to him by the Lithuanian TV broadcast commentator, and Lithuania national team staff representative, Linas Kunigėlis. His second nickname, Lithuanian Isaiah Thomas, was given to him by the Lithuanian

sports media Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...

, because of his similarities to Isaiah Thomas' (Thomas' height is 5'9", and Lekavičius' height is 5'10". They are both left-handed, and at one time, both of their club team's main colors were green and white).

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="3", Žalgiris , 24 , , 7 , , 19.0 , , .417 , , .333 , , .778 , , 1.8 , , 2.7 , , .4 , , .0 , , 5.5 , , 5.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , 21 , , 3 , , 14.3 , , .418 , , .516 , , .737 , , 1.1 , , 1.3 , , .9 , , , , 4.6 , , 3.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , 30 , , 0 , , 18.1 , , .448 , , .338 , , .759 , , 1.9 , , 3.5 , , .6 , , .0 , , 8.5 , , 8.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", Panathinaikos , 31 , , 3 , , 12.7 , , .473 , , .486 , , .895 , , 1.0 , , 1.5 , , .2 , , , , 3.9 , , 4.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , 33 , , 0 , , 10.8 , , .423 , , .405 , , .786 , , .8 , , 1.3 , , .3 , , .0 , , 4.0 , , 3.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;"rowspan="5", Žalgiris , 27 , , 3 , , 19.9 , , .535 , , .392 , , .862 , , 1.3 , , 2.8 , , .5 , , .0 , , 10.5 , , 10.2 , - , 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 ...

, 33 , , 0 , , 18.3 , , .550 , , .500 , , .864 , , 1.2 , , 2.4 , , .5 , , , , 8.2 , , 8.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , 32 , , 5 , , 23.7 , , .439 , , .431 , , .878 , , 1.3 , , 4.2 , , .7 , , , , 10.2 , , 10.9 , - , 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 ...

, 32 , , 4 , , 15.9 , , .469 , , .388 , , .918 , , 1.1 , , 1.5 , , .3 , , .1 , , 6.9 , , 6.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , 30 , , 1 , , 12.1 , , .372 , , .396 , , .857 , , .8 , , 1.6 , , .3 , , , , 4.9 , , 3.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center"; colspan="2", Career , 293 , , 26 , , 16.5 , , .461 , , .396 , , .843 , , 1.2 , , 2.3 , , .5 , , .0 , , 6.8 , , 6.6

Professional career

National team career

Personal life

Career statistics

EuroLeague

References

External links