Rokas Jokubaitis (born 19 November 2000) is a

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Je ...

professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional Football team, football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish footb ...

of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague.

Early life and youth career

Jokubaitis was born in

Mažeikiai Mažeikiai (; Samogitian: ''Mažeikē''; lv, Mažeiķi) is a city in northwestern Lithuania, on the Venta River. It has a population of around 43,547, making it the eighth largest city in Lithuania. The city is the administrative center of M ...

, Lithuania. He grew up playing youth basketball at the Vladas Knašius Basketball School in

Klaipėda Klaipėda (; ; german: Memel; pl, Kłajpeda; russian: Клайпеда; sgs, Klaipieda) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. The capital of the eponymous county, it is the third largest city and the only major seaport in Lithuani ...

before moving to the youth academy of Žalgiris. Jokubaitis was named to the all-tournament team at the 2018 Kaunas Tournament after averaging 15 points and 8.3 assists per game and leading Žalgiris to a third-place finish.

Professional career

Žalgiris (2017–2021)

On 9 January 2018, Jokubaitis scored a game-high 31 points for Žalgiris-2 in a highly publicized

exhibition game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

LaMelo Ball LaMelo LaFrance Ball (born August 22, 2001) is an American professional basketball player for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected by the Hornets with the third overall pick of the 2020 NBA draft ...

and

Prienai Prienai () is a city in Lithuania situated on the Nemunas River, south of Kaunas. In 2011 the city had 9,867 inhabitants. The name of the city is a derivative from a surname ''Prienas''. Pociūnai Airport is associated with the city. Histo ...

. On 5 May, he made his senior debut for Žalgiris in its

Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Je ...

(LKL) regular season finale against

Pieno žvaigždės Pieno žvaigždės is one of the biggest dairy products companies group in Lithuania, uniting Mažeikiai dairy, Kaunas dairy, Pasvalys Pasvalys () is a town in Panevėžys County, Lithuania, located near the bank of the Svalia River. Histor ...

. In the 2018–19 season, Jokubaitis was named the Best Young Player in the second-tier National Basketball League after averaging 13.2 points, 5.2 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game for Žalgiris-2. On 14 June 2019, Jokubaitis signed a three-year contract extension with Žalgiris. In the 2020–21 season, he averaged seven points and 2.5 assists per game in the EuroLeague. Jokubaitis was the runner-up to

Usman Garuba Destiny Usman Garuba Alari (born 9 March 2002) is a Spanish professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Listed at , he plays the Power forward (basketball), power forward and center (baske ...

for the

EuroLeague Rising Star The EuroLeague Rising Star in an annual award of the EuroLeague, which is the top-tier level European-wide professional club basketball league, that is given to the player the EuroLeague deems its "top rising star". The award began in the 2004� ...

award. He averaged eight points and four assists per game in the LKL and was named Best Young Player of the league.

Barcelona (2021–present)

On 21 July 2021, Jokubaitis signed a four-year contract with

of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague.

NBA draft rights

Jokubaitis was selected with the 34th overall pick by the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...

in the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NB ...

. Later on the draft-day, his rights were traded to the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associa ...

. On 3 August 2021, it was announced that Jokubaitis would return to FC Barcelona after the conclusion of the

2021 NBA Summer League The 2021 NBA Summer League was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus of University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The summer league cons ...

National team career

Jokubaitis played for Lithuania at the

2016 FIBA U16 European Championship The 2016 FIBA U16 European Championship was the 30th edition of the European Under-16 Basketball Championship. Sixteen teams participated in the competition, held in Radom, Poland, from 12 to 20 August 2016. Bosnia and Herzegovina, the defending ...

in Poland. He averaged 10 points and helped his team win a silver medal. Jokubaitis was the youngest player at the

2017 FIBA Under-19 World Cup The 2017 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup (Arabic: 2017 كأس العالم لكرة السلة تحت 19 سنة فيبا) was the 13th edition of the FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup, the biennial international men's youth basketball cham ...

in Egypt, averaging 10 points and 5.3 assists per game for the sixth-place team. At the

2018 FIBA U18 European 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 Latvia, he averaged 12.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game as his team finished fifth. Jokubaitis led Lithuania to fourth place at the

2019 FIBA Under-19 World Cup The 2019 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup (Greek: Παγκόσμιο Κύπελλο Μπάσκετ FIBA Under-19 2019) was the 14th edition of the FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup, the biennial international men's youth basketball championshi ...

in Greece, where he averaged 11.3 points and 5.6 assists per game. On 24 February 2020, Jokubaitis made his senior national team debut for Lithuania during EuroBasket qualification. In June and July 2021, he played at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Tra ...

Personal life

Jokubaitis' father, , played professional basketball in Lithuania and Poland. His mother and sister also played the sport. On 12 December 2020, a man was arrested in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional u ...

after scamming €10,000 from a woman he had dated for months by impersonating Jokubaitis.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Žalgiris , 12 , , 0 , , 5.8 , , .500 , , .200 , , .800 , , .5 , , .6 , , .0 , , .1 , , 2.6 , , 1.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Žalgiris , 10 , , 0 , , 6.4 , , .444 , , .500 , , .750 , , .5 , , 1.3 , , .3 , , .0 , , 2.2 , , 2.0 , - , 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 ...

, style="text-align:left;", Žalgiris , 31 , , 5 , , 20.9 , , .454 , , .388 , , .756 , , 1.7 , , 2.5 , , .5 , , .0 , , 7.0 , , 6.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

, 37 , , 2 , , 16.7 , , .563 , , .568 , , .714 , , 1.6 , , 2.6 , , .4 , , .0 , , 7.1 , , 7.5

References

External links

Rokas Jokubaitis
at Euroleague.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Jokubaitis, Rokas 2000 births Living people BC Žalgiris players BC Žalgiris-2 players FC Barcelona Bàsquet players Liga ACB players Lithuanian men's basketball players Oklahoma City Thunder draft picks People from Mažeikiai Point guards