Šarūnas Jasikevičius

Šarūnas Jasikevičius

Šarūnas Jasikevičius, during EuroBasket 2011
No. 13 – FC Barcelona Regal
Point guard
Personal information
Born	(1976-03-05) March 5, 1976 Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR, USSR (now Lithuania)
Nationality	Lithuanian
Listed height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight	202 lb (92 kg)
Career information
High school	Solanco (Quarryville, Pennsylvania)
College	Maryland (1994–1998)
NBA Draft	1998 / Undrafted
Pro career	1998–present
League	ACB Euroleague
Career history
1998–1999	Lietuvos Rytas (Lithuania)
1999–2000	Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia)
2000–2003	Barcelona (Spain)
2003–2005	Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
2005–2007	Indiana Pacers
2007	Golden State Warriors
2007–2010	Panathinaikos (Greece)
2010–2011	Lietuvos Rytas (Lithuania)
2011	Fenerbahçe Ülker (Turkey)
2011–2012	Panathinaikos (Greece)
2012–present	Barcelona (Spain)
Career highlights and awards
Slovenian Cup (2000) 2× ACB Champion (2001, 2003) Spanish League Finals MVP (2003) 3× Spanish King's Cup (2001, 2003, 2013) 4× Triple Crown (2003, 2004, 2005, 2009) EuroBasket Champion (2003) EuroBasket MVP (2003) European Player of the Year: Mr. Europa (2003) 2x All-Europe Player of the Year (2004, 2005) Euroleague Final Four MVP (2005) Lithuanian Sportsman of the Year (2003) 4× Euroleague Champion (2003, 2004, 2005, 2009) 2× All-Euroleague Team (2004, 2005) 2× Israeli Champion (2004, 2005) 2× Israeli Cup (2004, 2005) 50 Greatest Euroleague Contributors (2007) 3× GBL Champion (2008, 2009, 2010) 3× Greek Cup (2008, 2009, 2012) Greek Cup MVP (2012) Euroleague 2001-10 All-Decade Team (2010) TBL Champion (2011) Turkish Cup (2011)
Medals Men's Basketball Competitor for Lithuania Summer Olympic Games Bronze 2000 Sydney National Team FIBA European Championship Gold 2003 Sweden National Team Bronze 2007 Spain National Team

Šarūnas Jasikevičius ([ʃɐˈrûːn̪ɐs̪ jɛs̪ʲɪˈkʲæːvʲɪt͡ʃʲʊs̪] ( listen); born March 5, 1976) is a Lithuanian professional basketball player for FC Barcelona of the Spanish League. He is a 6'4¾ (1.95m) tall point guard. He has also been a member of the Lithuanian national team.

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 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 Olimpija Ljubljana 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 the FC Barcelona and won the Euroleague in 2003. He started for the championship team and averaged 13.4 points and 3.2 assists. He also led the team to two Spanish League titles and two Spanish King's Cups.

He joined the 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 112 games (16 starts) with the Pacers in 1½ seasons, averaging 7.3 points and 3.0 assists.

On January 17, 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 in 26 games (2 starts) in only 11.9 minutes per game. Jasikevičius was bought out by the Warriors on September 20, 2007.

On September 25, 2007, Jasikevičius signed with Panathinaikos. The deal reportedly was worth €7 million euros net income over two years (7.7 million including his buyout). 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 the 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 on 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 Ülker, bought-out his contract with Lietuvos Rytas, and he signed a one-year contract with them.

In September 2011, he signed a new contact 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.

Lithuanian national team

Šarūnas Jasikevičius, during the bronze medalists meeting, in Vilnius.

Jasikevičius started his international career in 1997, when he played for Lithuania in 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 September 3, 2007.

As of 2012, he is the only Lithuanian basketball player to participate in the Olympics four times in a row. He retired from the 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.

Šarūnas Jasikevičius, wearing the Maccabi Tel Aviv jersey, in 2004.

Šaras as a Panathinaikos member

Personal life

Šarūnas' younger brother, Vytenis Jasikevičius, is also a professional basketball player. 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 Šarūnas, who was born in 2012.

Career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	PIR	Performance Index Rating
Bold	Career high

Euroleague

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG	PIR
2000–01	FC Barcelona	9	8	28.2	.398	.327	.900	2.3	5.6	1.0	.1	14.0	14.1
2001–02	FC Barcelona	18	16	23.5	.504	.449	.872	2.1	3.4	.9	.1	11.6	10.2
2002–03	FC Barcelona	21	15	26.4	.423	.378	.959	1.8	3.2	.7	.0	13.4	10.8
2003–04	Maccabi Tel Aviv	21	20	29.7	.477	.448	.925	1.6	4.8	.7	.0	16.0	16.3
2004–05	Maccabi Tel Aviv	24	23	31.7	.431	.399	.941	2.7	5.3	.9	.1	15.7	16.6
2007–08	Panathinaikos	20	5	23.5	.485	.408	.938	1.6	2.9	.7	.0	13.2	12.9
2008–09	Panathinaikos	22	4	20.1	.450	.389	.886	1.5	3.0	.6	.1	9.6	8.1
2009–10	Panathinaikos	7	0	15.8	.400	.000	.700	1.1	2.1	.3	.0	4.4	2.6
2010–11	Lietuvos rytas	6	0	19.4	.437	.375	.909	1.3	4.3	.2	.0	7.3	7.0
2010–11	Fenerbahçe	6	1	15.4	.407	.375	.800	1.0	1.5	.2	.0	4.8	1.5
2011–12	Panathinaikos	21	1	15.4	.517	.385	.875	1.3	2.5	.6	.0	7.2	6.3
Career		175	93	23.8	.456	.397	.919	1.8	3.6	.7	.0	11.7	11.0

NBA regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2005–06	Indiana	75	15	20.8	.396	.364	.910	2.0	3.0	.5	.0	7.3
2006–07	Indiana	37	1	17.9	.412	.372	.922	1.3	3.0	.4	.0	7.4
2006–07	Golden State	26	2	11.9	.366	.273	.871	.8	2.3	.5	.0	4.3
Career		138	18	18.3	.397	.355	.908	1.6	2.9	.5	.0	6.8

NBA Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2005–06	Indiana	6	0	11.0	.368	.222	.500	1.0	1.0	.0	.2	2.8
2006–07	Golden State	4	0	1.5	.000	.000	.500	.0	.5	.0	.0	.3
Career		10	0	7.2	.350	.222	.500	.6	.8	.0	.1	1.8

Honors and awards

Šaras (FB Ülker)

Club career

• Lietuvos Rytas (1998–99)
• Union Olimpija (1999-00)
  • Slovenian Cup: (2000)
• Barcelona (2000–03, 2012 – present)
  • Euroleague Championship: (2003)
  • 2x Spanish Championship: (2001, 2003)
  • 3x Spanish Cup: (2001, 2003, 2013)
    • Triple Crown: (2003)
• Maccabi Tel Aviv (2003–05)
  • 2x Euroleague Championship: (2004, 2005)
  • 2x Israeli Championship: (2004, 2005)
  • 2x Israeli Cup: (2004, 2005)
    • 2x Triple Crown: (2004, 2005)
• Indiana Pacers (2005–07)
  • NBA Playoffs: (2005–06)
• Golden State Warriors (2007)
  • NBA Playoffs: (2006–07)
• Lietuvos Rytas (2010)
• Fenerbahçe Ülker (2011)
  • Turkish Championship: (2011)
  • Turkish Cup: (2011)
• Panathinaikos (2007–10, 2012)
  • Euroleague Championship: (2009)
  • 3x Greek Championship: (2008, 2009, 2010)
  • 3x Greek Cup: (2008, 2009, 2012)
    • Triple Crown: (2009)

International career

• 2000 Summer Olympic Games: 3 ! Bronze
• EuroBasket 2003: 1 ! Gold
• EuroBasket 2007: 3 ! Bronze

Individual

• Spanish League Finals MVP: 2003
• EuroBasket 2003 MVP: 2003
• European Player of the Year: Mr. Europa: 2003
• 2x All-Euroleague Team: 2004, 2005
• 2x All-Europe Player of the Year: 2004, 2005
• Euroleague Final Four MVP: 2005
• 50 Greatest Euroleague Contributors: 2007
• Greek League Best Five: 2009
• Euroleague 2001–10 All-Decade Team: 2010
• Greek Cup MVP: 2012

External links

• NBA.com Historical Player File - Sarunas Jasikevicius
• Euroleague.net Profile
• Greek Basket League Profile
• Spanish League Profile (Spanish)
• TBLStat.net Turkish League Profile

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Peja Stojaković	Mr. Europa 2003	Succeeded by Pau Gasol
Preceded by Raimondas Rumšas	Lithuanian Sportsman of the Year 2003	Succeeded by Virgilijus Alekna
Olympic Games
Preceded by Saulius Štombergas	Flagbearer for Lithuania Beijing 2008	Succeeded by Virgilijus Alekna