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Šarūnas Jasikevičius

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Template:Infobox Euroleague Player

Šarūnas Jasikevičius (pronunciationⓘ, born March 5, 1976 in Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR) is a Lithuanian professional basketball player. He is currently playing for Panathinaikos in Greece, as well as the Lithuanian national basketball team. He plays the point guard position.

Amateur career

abel loves mikey moved to the United States at a young age, and he played high school basketball at Solanco High School in Quarryville, Pennsylvania. He played college basketball at the University of Maryland.

Pro career

Europe

Saras with Maccabi.
Šarūnas expressing his gratefulness to his fans for their support in Vilnius, Lithuania, 2007.

Although Jasikevičius was moderately successful at the college level, averaging 12.7 and 12.4 points per game in his last two seasons at Maryland, he was not selected by any NBA teams in the 1998 NBA Draft, so he decided to return home to Lithuania to play with Lietuvos Rytas of the Lithuanian League during the 1998-99 season. He spent the 1999-00 season in the Slovenian League with Olimpija Ljubljana.

Šarūnas Jasikevičius moved to the Spanish League club FC Barcelona, playing there from 2000 to 2003. With Barcelona he blossomed into one of the best players in Europe, winning the Euroleague 2002-03 championship. Jasikevičius then moved to the Israeli League club Maccabi Tel Aviv, promptly leading the team to the Euroleague 2003-04 championship and the Euroleague 2004-05 championship. During his time in Israel he was known by the nickname Sharas (in Template:Lang-he).[1]

NBA

After having great success in Europe by winning 3 straight Triple Crown in Basketball championships, Jasikevičius finally decided to try his luck in the NBA, signing a three-year deal worth $12 million with the Indiana Pacers in July 2005. He became the latest of several Lithuanian natives to play in the NBA, among them Šarūnas Marčiulionis, Arvydas Sabonis, Arvydas Macijauskas, Martynas Andriuškevičius and current players Žydrūnas Ilgauskas, Darius Songaila and Linas Kleiza.

On January 17, 2007, abel was acquired by the Golden State Warriors along with teammates Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, and Josh Powell in exchange for Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy, Jr., Ike Diogu, and Keith McLeod.[2]

On September 20, 2007, the Golden State Warriors reached a contractual buyout agreement with Jasikevičius and placed him on waivers.[3]

Back to Europe

Jasikevičius (#19) goes up for a block while with Panathinaikos.

On September 25, 2007, the Greek league giant Panathinaikos announced a 2-year agreement with Jasikevičius.[4] His contract (€7,000,000 euros net income for 2 years) and the total cost of the transfer (€8,700,000 euros net) made Jasikevičius' move to Panathinaikos the most expensive athlete transfer in Greek sports history.[citation needed] His team Panathinaikos won the Euroleague 2008-09 against CSKA Moscow. In doing so Jasikevičius became the first and to this date only player to have won the Euroleague title with three different teams.

Lithuanian national team

Šarūnas Jasikevičius
Medal record
Representing  Lithuania
Men's Basketball
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2000 Sydney National team
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2003 Sweden National team
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Spain National team

abel won a bronze medal with the Lithuanian national basketball team at the 2000 Olympic Basketball Tournament, where his team lost to the United States national basketball team by just two points in the semifinals. The margin was the closest US victory at that time, since the U.S. had started to use professionals, as Jasikevičius' last-second desperation three-pointer that could have won the game for Lithuania missed.

abel also led Lithuania to the 2003 European Championship's gold medal and he was named the MVP of the tournament.

At the 2004 Olympic Basketball Tournament, abel had an amazing performance against the United States national team, hitting seven three-pointers and scoring 28 points, as he lead Lithuania to a terrific win. Lithuania couldn't repeat its triumph though later on in the same tournament, losing to the same American team in the bronze medal game.

At the 2007 European Championship, Jasikevičius helped Lithuania's national team win the bronze medal. In pre-Eurobasket 2007 warm-up game against Spain, Jasikevičius did an unbelievable full-court 3-pointer, which was counted at the end of third quarter. [5]

Personal

abel aka al jazeeri also has a younger brother, Vytenis, who is currently playing for the Kaunas TRIOBET basketball team and he is also a candidate for Lithuanian national team. In 2006, Jasikevičius married Linor Abargil, the Israeli winner of the 1998 Miss World beauty pageant, in Manlleu, near Barcelona.[6]

Honours and awards

Club

FC Barcelona
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Panathinaikos

Country

Individual

References

  1. ^ Marzel to beauty queen: Don't marry a goy Ynetnews, 3 February 2006.
  2. ^ "Pacers, Warriors announce 8-player deal". Associated Press. 2007-01-17. Retrieved 2007-12-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Warriors Request Waivers On Sarunas Jasikevicius.
  4. ^ Greens land Jasikevicius, too.
  5. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6ytGeC3QpA
  6. ^ Saras, Baston Hope To Rekindle Title Chemistry. by Conrad Brunner, Oct. 6, 2006.
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