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Artūras Gudaitis

From Alfawiki
Artūras Gudaitis
Born (1993-06-19) June 19, 1993 (age 33)
Klaipėda, Lithuania
OccupationProfessional basketball player
Years active2013–present
Known forPlaying center for Rytas Vilnius and being drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2015 NBA draft

Artūras Gudaitis (born 19 June 1993) is a Lithuanian professional basketball athlete currently competing for Rytas Vilnius in the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) as well as the Basketball Champions League (BCL). Measuring , he occupies the center position. In the 2015 NBA draft, he was chosen 47th overall by the Philadelphia 76ers.

Early career

Gudaitis started his basketball journey in the RKL with LCC Klaipėda before spending two seasons in Lithuania's second-tier league, the NKL. During his final campaign with Žalgiris-2 Kaunas, he earned a bronze medal and was honored as the league’s most promising young talent.

Professional career

On 6 August 2013, Gudaitis inked a two-year deal with Žalgiris Kaunas, joining their senior squad. Despite an early knee setback, he delivered a standout EuroLeague performance against Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar, contributing 14 points and 6 rebounds. He played a pivotal role in Žalgiris's success during the LKL semi-finals versus Lietuvos rytas Vilnius.

In the course of the 2014–15 LKL season, his emphatic dunk over Artūras Jomantas was voted Top Play of the Regular Season.

On 2 July 2015, Gudaitis agreed to a 2+1 contract with Lietuvos rytas Vilnius. On 9 November 2016, he posted a personal best of 17 points alongside 11 rebounds in a EuroCup match against Montakit Fuenlabrada. A week later, he tallied 12 points and set a new career-high with 15 rebounds. His impressive displays culminated in his inclusion in the LKL All-Tournament Team in June 2017.

Gudaitis signed with Italian outfit Olimpia Milano on 12 September 2017, later extending his contract through the 2020–21 season in February 2018. On 1 February 2019, he sustained an ACL injury during a game against Herbalife Gran Canaria, which sidelined him for the remainder of that season. Prior to this injury, he ranked among the EuroLeague’s most efficient centers despite appearing in just 21 games.

On 10 July 2020, Gudaitis committed to Russian club Zenit on a two-year contract, competing in both the VTB United League and EuroLeague. Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, he departed Zenit and completed the 2021–22 season with Italian team Napoli Basket.

Returning to EuroLeague competition, Gudaitis signed a one-year deal with Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos on 20 July 2022. Over 29 EuroLeague appearances, he averaged 7.5 points and grabbed 3.7 rebounds in roughly 17 minutes per contest; domestically, across 33 games, he contributed averages of 7.9 points and 4.8 rebounds. He was released from Panathinaikos on 3 July 2023.

On 21 July 2023, Gudaitis agreed to a one-year contract with Japanese club Alvark Tokyo competing in the B.League. He renewed his contract for an additional season on July 30, 2024, but both parties mutually agreed to terminate it on 21 February 2025.

NBA

On 26 February 2015, Gudaitis declared for the 2015 NBA draft, drawing interest from eleven franchises. He was ultimately selected as the 47th overall pick by the Philadelphia 76ers on draft night, June 25, 2015.

Shortly thereafter, on 10 July 2015, the Sacramento Kings acquired his rights along with those of Luka Mitrović from Philadelphia in exchange for players including Carl Landry, Jason Thompson, and Nik Stauskas. Reports indicated that Kings executive Vlade Divac specifically requested Gudaitis’s acquisition.

Gudaitis participated with Sacramento during the 2016 NBA Summer League. On 8 February 2018, his NBA rights were traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers as part of a three-team deal involving both the Kings and the Utah Jazz.

National team career

Gudaitis made his initial appearance for Lithuania at the under-18 competition held in Poland in 2011, where he posted averages of 11.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per contest.

In 2015, he was named to the extended roster of Lithuania's senior national team by head coach Jonas Kazlauskas and participated in the training camp; however, he was cut from the squad just four days prior to the tournament. His debut with the senior team occurred during EuroBasket 2017, where he averaged 4.8 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.

EuroLeague

|- | style="text-align:left;"|2013–14 | style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"|Žalgiris | 7 || 1 || 10.3 || .600 || .000 || .636 || 2.6 || .6 || .4 || .7 || 4.4 || 6.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2014–15 | 20 || 4 ||15.4|| .506 || .400 || .618 || 4.0 || .3 || .2 || .9 || 6.5 || 7.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2017–18 | style="text-align:left;" rowspan="3"|Olimpia | 29 || 1 || 20.4 || .618 || || .715 || 6.3 || .2 || .6 || 1.1 || 10.3 || 15.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2018–19 | 21 || 4 || 23.4 || .639 || || .805 || 7.1 || .4 || .8 || 1.0 || 12.5 || 18.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2019–20 | 19 || 1 || 16.5 || .500 || 1.000 || .753 || 4.4 || .5 || .4 || .9 || 7.3 || 10.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2020–21 | style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"|Zenit | 31 || 24 || 20.0 || .601 || .323 || .381 || 3.5 || .8 || 1.0 || .6 || 8.8 || 7.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"|2021–22 | 17 || 16 || 19.0 || .610 || || .500 || 4.1 || .8 || .2|| .7||6.7||8.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2022–23 | style="text-align:left;"| Panathinaikos |29||12||17.3|| .640|| || .524||3.7|| .5|| .5|| .4||7.5||8.9 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career |173||63||18.4||.607||.300||.696||4.7||.7||.5||.6||8.6||11.7

External links

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