Šarūnas Jasikevičius

Early years

Jasikevičius is from Lithuania, but spent his teen years in the United States. He attended the Solanco High School in Quarryville, Pennsylvania.

College career

Jasikevičius played college basketball at the University of Maryland, with the Maryland Terrapins. He played as a wing, although he remade himself into a point guard in his pro career. He did not see much playing time in his first two years in college, with seniors Duane Simpkins, Johnny Rhodes, and Exree Hipp ahead of him at the wing positions. As a junior, he became a better passer and improved his defense. He averaged a shade under 13 points and 4 assists in his junior and senior years.

Professional playing career

Jasikevičius made his pro debut in 1998 with Lietuvos Rytas of Vilnius and averaged 18.0 points and 5.4 assists. He joined the Union Olimpija for the next season and won the Premier A Slovenian Basketball League. His season averages were down to 9.3 points and 3.4 assists per game.

Jasikevičius played the next three seasons with FC Barcelona, and won the EuroLeague with them in 2003. He started for the championship team, and averaged 13.4 points and 3.2 assists per game. He also led the team to two Spanish League titles, and two Spanish King's Cups.

He joined Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2003, and helped them win two EuroLeague titles, two Israeli League crowns, and two Israeli Cups.

Jasikevičius signed with the Indiana Pacers in July 2005. The deal was worth $12 million over three years. He played in the NBA in 112 games (16 starts) with the Pacers in one and a half seasons, averaging 7.3 points and 3.0 assists per game.

On 17 January 2007, Jasikevičius was traded to the Golden State Warriors, along with Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, and Josh Powell, in exchange for Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy, Jr., Ike Diogu, and Keith McLeod. He did not become a part of the rotation in Golden State. He averaged 4.3 points and 2.3 assists per game in 26 games (2 starts), in only 11.9 minutes per game. Jasikevičius was bought out by the Warriors on 20 September 2007.

On 25 September 2007, Jasikevičius signed with Panathinaikos. The deal reportedly was worth €7 million euros net income over two years (7.7 million including his buyout). With Panathinaikos, he won the EuroLeague again in 2009. Jasikevičius became the only player in basketball history to win the EuroLeague with three different teams. He also won three Greek League titles and three Greek Cups with Panathinaikos. In 2009, he signed a contract extension worth € 3.5 million euros net income with Panathinaikos. He underwent a knee surgery that same year, and after 5 months of rehabilitation, he returned to the court with limited playing time.

In November 2010, he signed a one-year contract with Lietuvos Rytas of the Lithuanian League.
In January 2011, Fenerbahçe, bought-out his contract with Lietuvos Rytas, and he signed a one-year contract with them.

In September 2011, he signed a new contract with Panathinaikos. At age 36, he was named the Greek Cup Final MVP, as he helped Panathinaikos to victory against Olympiacos, in a game that finished with a score of 71-70. Despite rumors that he would join Žalgiris, in July 2012, Jasikevičius signed with his former team, FC Barcelona. During the fifth Liga ACB finals game against Real Madrid, Jasikevičius scored 23 points, and dished out 2 assists in 19 minutes of game action. However, it wasn't enough, as Real won the game 79 to 71.

On 1 July 2013, it was announced that Barcelona had parted ways with Jasikevičius. In September, he returned home to Kaunas, signing with Žalgiris. On September 30, 2013, he debuted with Žalgiris, during a game against Unics Kazan, scoring 6 points and dishing out 4 assists. He retired after the season, and joined the Žalgiris coaching staff.

Professional coaching career

On 29 July 2014, Jasikevičius announced his retirement from basketball, and was appointed to an assistant coach position with Žalgiris Kaunas. After the firing of head coach Gintaras Krapikas during the 2015–16 season, Jasikevičius became the team's interim head coach. On 13 January 2016, it was announced that he was appointed as their new head coach.

On 22 January 2016, he accomplished his first EuroLeague victory as a head coach, when Žalgiris shockingly crushed the previous season's runners-up, Olympiacos, by a score of 75–55, at Žalgiris Arena. On October 26, 2016, just before the first game versus his former long-time head coach Željko Obradović, Željko said: "I knew that he will be a good coach and in the future - one of the best in Europe".

Lithuanian national team

Jasikevičius won two gold medals with the Lithuanian youth teams in 1994 and 1996.

He started his senior international career in 1997, when he played for Lithuania's senior national team at EuroBasket 1997. Jasikevičius was a member of the Lithuanian national team which won bronze medals at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. He averaged 14.0 points and 5.1 assists, and scored a tournament-high 27 points, in a semi-finals loss to the United States.

Jasikevičius also led Lithuania to a EuroBasket 2003 title. He was named the tournament MVP, after averaging 14.0 points and 8.2 assists.

Jasikevičius also helped Lithuania win bronze medals at the EuroBasket 2007. He averaged 10.4 points and 5.6 assists, and scored a tournament-high 18 points against Turkey, on 3 September 2007.

As of 2012, he was the only Lithuanian basketball player to participate in the Olympics four times in a row. He retired from the Lithuanian national team following the 2012 Olympics. In his whole career as a Lithuania national basketball team member, he averaged 10 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game.

Career statistics

Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

Personal life

In 2006, Jasikevičius married Linor Abargil, the winner of the Miss World 1998 beauty pageant. They divorced in 2008.

In 2009 he met Anna Douka in an Athens bar. Currently the pair have two children: a girl named Aila, who was born in 2010, and a boy named Lukas, who was born in 2012.

Šarunas' younger brother, Vytenis Jasikevičius, is also a professional basketball player.

In 2015 his biographical book Laimėti neužtenka (English: To win is not enough) was published in Italian, Greek and Lithuanian languages. The English version is planned in the near future as well. Furthermore, the interest is also shown by the Spanish and Israeli publishing houses.

Club career

Individual