Eight Lithuanians, this year in basketball may be the last
All stories have a beginning and an end. For some basketball players, this season will be the last of their careers. This time, the Krepsinis.net portal takes a look at the Lithuanians, who may be the last time we see them at the stadium.
Later, we will focus on European players as well.
We didn’t include players like Martynas Mažeika or Tomas Delininkaitis, who are still out of work, but could run on the ground this season.
Marius Rankowskas (36 years old)
The experienced shooter has competed professionally for nearly 20 years and will turn 37 next spring. M.Ronkauskas spent most of his career in Lithuania, after a few years he played in France and Romania, and last season he joined “Gargžda”. He was still very useful in the National Basketball League (NKL), and this year he makes his debut with this team in the strongest national championship. M.Ronkauskas also proves he has a lot to do on the LKL front, especially representing juniors, but it is possible to say goodbye to the basketball court when he turns 37.
Lukowski
Mindaugas Lukoskis (43 years old)
In fact, the question arises every year whether it is pointless to include M.Lukauskis in similar rosters, as it appears the veteran will be competing as long as the league is alive. LKL’s oldest basketball player is 43 years old and certainly won’t lose to Alytus “Wolves”, despite his capable teammates. In the first game of the season, he managed to score 26 points and hit 6 3-pointers. M.Lukauskis exhibits exceptional form and health, neither his wolves coaches nor his teammates praise him, so all that remains is to wish M.Lukauskis health. Hopefully this prediction is wrong and at 44 he will still be in demand in the summer LKL market.
Arturas Valica (37 years old)
Virginijus Šeškus invited a veteran, who had not played in Lithuania for a long time, to his student ranks. By the way, the last time in 2016-2017, he also represented the V. eškaus team, and then in Prienai. A. Valeika hasn’t done anything impressive during his career and his biggest achievement was playing for Vilnius “Ryte” in 2014-2015. He has played in Romania and Estonia for the past five years, and it is likely that he will symbolically end his career at LKL after this year. A. Valeika will turn 38 in the summer.
Mantas Kalnites (36 years old)
Paulius Jankūnas has already said goodbye to basketball in the summer, and M. Kalnietis is next on the list of “Žalgiris” Kaunas. The true legend of Kaunas and the national team, who achieved more than one landslide victory, has already said goodbye to the national team. After a brilliant stage in Krasnodar, M. Kalnietis in Kaunas no longer looked like his good old self and was having problems with his health. The attacking player remains a very important link in the Algiers dressing room, but there is little chance he will still be running on the ground beyond this season, when he is in his 37th year.
exercises
Armenas Urbutis (36 years old)
In Šiauliai, the tall man is competing for the third year in a row, and last year his performances were interrupted for a long time due to injury. Despite this, “Šiauliai” extended the contract with A. Urbučius. He’s been playing in the LKL Championship without breaks since 2015, but this year could be the last for the Šiauliai club captain, even if he doesn’t stop due to injuries.
Gintautas Matulis (35 years old)
The veteran of the “Uniclub Casino – Juventus” in Utena did not hide for some time that basketball gives him great pleasure, but how long will his career last? He was still useful at Utena last year, and so far this season he has played one lackluster game showing nothing. c. Matulis is enjoying 3×3 basketball in the summer, and would like to work as a coach in the future. He will likely fulfill that plan after the end of the current LKL season, as he will already be 36 years old.
Justice
Simas Jasaitis (40 years old)
The Mažeikiai “M Basket” team includes two well-known veterans in its composition, including Simas Jasaitis. By the way, he works as a coach who plays. Mažeikiai is not expecting a big on-court role from S. Jasaitis, sporting director Jonas Vainauskas said. Jasitis spent last season without a club, so it is difficult to expect miracles from him, and judging by his new duties, it is clear that this is the veteran’s last season.
Arturas Jumantas (37 years old)
Another veteran of the Mažeikiai club, for whom this club is not an ordinary NKL. A. Jomantas comes from Mažeikiai, he started his football career here in 2001 and will finish it here. This veteran has no shortage of titles and achievements in LKL, but after last year’s Alytus “Dzūkija” no one needed his services in this league. A. Jomantas has never spit in an NKL match and will do so now. By the way, this is the first season of A. Jomant in NKL. He looked solid in training and showed that NKL would be useful.
