Artūras Gudaitis

Artūras Gudaitis (born 19 June 1993) is a Lithuanian professional basketball player for Alvark Tokyo of the Japanese B.League. Standing at 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in), he plays at the center position. He was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 47th overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft.

Artūras Gudaitis
Gudaitis with Olimpia Milano in 2017
No. 77 – Alvark Tokyo
PositionCenter
LeagueB.League
Personal information
Born (1993-06-19) 19 June 1993
Klaipėda, Lithuania
NationalityLithuanian
Listed height208 cm (6 ft 10 in)
Listed weight115 kg (254 lb)
Career information
NBA draft2015: 2nd round, 47th overall pick
Selected by the Philadelphia 76ers
Playing career2010–present
Career history
2010–2011LCC Klaipėda
2011–2012Gargždai-Bremena
2012Nafta-Universitetas Klaipėda
2012–2015Žalgiris Kaunas
2012–2013→ Žalgiris-2 Kaunas
2015–2017Lietuvos rytas Vilnius
2017–2020Olimpia Milano
2020–2022Zenit Saint Petersburg
2022Napoli
2022–2023Panathinaikos
2023–presentAlvark Tokyo
Career highlights and awards
Stats  at Basketball-Reference.com

Early career

Before starting his professional career, Gudaitis played in the RKL with the LCC Klaipėda for one season. The next two seasons he played in NKL, and on his last season with Žalgiris-2 Kaunas he won a bronze medal. Gudaitis was respectively nominated as a most promising young player of the league on the same year.

Professional career
Gudaitis with BC Žalgiris in 2014

On 6 August 2013, Gudaitis signed a professional contract with Žalgiris Kaunas for two years and was brought into the main Žalgiris roster. Whilst suffering from the knee injury in the first half of the season he had his breakthrough game against Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar in the EuroLeague tournament, scoring 14 points with 6 rebounds.[1] Gudaitis vastly improved during the regular season, and was called an x-factor of victorious LKL semi-final series against Lietuvos rytas Vilnius.[2]

During 2014–15 LKL season his powerful dunk over Artūras Jomantas was selected as the Top Play of the Regular Season.[3]

On 2 July 2015, he signed a 2+1 contract with Lietuvos rytas Vilnius.[4]

On 9 November 2016, Gudaitis scored a career-high 17 points and got 11 rebounds in a 101–84 win over Montakit Fuenlabrada in EuroCup Basketball game.[5] One week later, on 16 November 2016, Gudaitis scored 12 points and got a career-high 15 rebounds.[6] After a individually successful 2016–17 season, he was named to the LKL All-Tournament Team on 13 June 2017.[7]

On 12 September 2017, Gudaitis signed with Olimpia Milano.[8] On 25 February 2018, Gudaitis extended his contract that would keep him with the team until the end of the 2020–21 season.[9]

On 1 February 2019, during an away game against Herbalife Gran Canaria, Gudaitis suffered an ACL injury that left him sidelined for the remainder of the 2018–2019 season.[10] Despite having played only 21 games in the Euroleague during the season, he was one of its most efficient players,[11] and was considered one of the league's top centers prior to the injury.

On 10 July 2020 Gudaitis moved to Russian club Zenit of the VTB United League and the EuroLeague on a two-year deal.[12] He left the team after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and spent the latter half of the 2021–2022 season with the Italian club Napoli Basket.[13]

On 20 July 2022, Gudaitis signed a one-year deal with Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos, returning once more to the EuroLeague.[14] In 29 EuroLeague games, he averaged 7.5 points and 3.7 rebounds, playing around 17 minutes per contest. Additionally, in 33 domestic league matches, he averaged 7.9 points and 4.8 rebounds, playing around 16 minutes per contest. On 3 July 2023, Gudaitis was officially released from the Greek powerhouse.

On 21 July 2023, Gudaitis signed a one-year deal with Alvark Tokyo of the Japanese B.League.[15]

NBA

On 26 February 2015 Gudaitis announced that he was going to participate in the 2015 NBA draft[16] and prior to the NBA draft, it was reported that 11 teams were interested in his services.[17]

On 25 June 2015, Gudaitis was selected in the second round, with the 47th pick by the Philadelphia 76ers.[18]

On 10 July 2015, the Sacramento Kings acquired Gudaitis and Luka Mitrović from the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Carl Landry, Jason Thompson, and Nik Stauskas.[19] It was reported that Vlade Divac himself requested to acquire Gudaitis.[20]

On 5 July 2016, it was announced that Gudaitis would represent the Kings during the 2016 NBA Summer League.[21]

On 8 February 2018, the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired rights to Gudaitis after they completed a three-team trade with the Sacramento Kings and Utah Jazz.[22]

National team career

Gudaitis represented Lithuania at the U–18 youth tournament in Poland, 2011. His team took 5th place in the tournament, where Gudaitis scored 11.3 points, grabbed 6.2 rebounds and had 1.4 blocks per game.[23]

In 2015 Gudaitis was included in the Lithuania men's national basketball team head coach Jonas Kazlauskas extended candidates list and was invited to the training camp.[24] He was released from the team on 1 September, just 4 days before the championship start.[25] He represented the primary Lithuania national team during the EuroBasket 2017 for the first time and averaged 4.8 points, 2.5 rebounds and 0.2 assists.[26]

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
2013–14 Žalgiris 7110.3.600.000.6362.6.6.4.74.46.9
2014–15 20415.4.506.400.6184.0.3.2.96.57.2
2017–18 Olimpia 29120.4.618—.7156.3.2.61.110.315.4
2018–19 21423.4.639—.8057.1.4.81.012.518.7
2019–20 19116.5.5001.000.7534.4.5.4.97.310.4
2020–21 Zenit 312420.0.601.323.3813.5.81.0.08.87.8
Career 771019.2.619.0.7664.0.7.40.69.712.8

References
  1. "Varžovus stebinęs Gudaitis: "Nesijaučiu padaręs kažką ypatingo"".
  2. "LKL grandų serijos įvertinimai: Kas pradžiugino, nustebino, o kas nuvylė?".
  3. "BEKO-LKL reguliaraus sezono TOP10". LKL.lt. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  4. "Arturas Gudaitis leaves Zalgiris and signs for Lietuvos Rytas". Sportando.com. 2 July 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  5. "Logan leads Rytas to first win in Group B". www.eurocupbasketball.com. 9 November 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  6. "Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius vs. Khimki Moscow Region - Game - Welcome to 7DAYS EuroCup". www.eurocupbasketball.com. 16 November 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  7. "Paskelbtas simbolinis geriausių LKL žaidėjų penketas". BasketNews.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  8. "L'Olimpia si rinforza con Arturas Gudaitis". www.olimpiamilano.com (in Italian). 12 September 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  9. "Gudaitis e l'Olimpia estendono fino al 2021". www.olimpiamilano.com (in Italian). 26 February 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  10. "Milan's Gudaitis out long-term with knee injury". Euroleague.net. 2 February 2019.
  11. Statistics | Euroleague.net
  12. Skerletic, Dario (10 July 2020). "Arturas Gudaitis joins Zenith St. Petersburg on two-year deal". Sportando. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  13. "Guerre en Ukraine: ces joueurs étrangers qui n'ont pas quitté les équipes russes engagées en Euroleague | Basket Europe". 11 March 2022.
  14. "Panathinaikos officially welcomes Arturas Gudaitis". Eurohoops. 20 July 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  15. "Report on the signing of Arturas Gudaitis for the 2023-24 season". Alvark Tokyo. 21 July 2023. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  16. "Gudaitis dalyvaus NBA naujokų biržoje (video)". BasketNews.lt. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  17. Langvinis, Tomas. ""Žalgirio" puolėjui Artūrui Gudaičiui – 11-os NBA klubų dėmesys". 15min.lt. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  18. "Philadelphia 76ers Select Jahlil Okafor, Richaun Holmes, Arturas Gudaitis, J.P. Tokoto, And Luka Mitrovic In The 2015 NBA Draft". NBA.com. 26 June 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  19. "Kings Acquire Draft Rights to Two Players in Five-Player Trade with 76ers". NBA.com. 10 July 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  20. "Artūrui Gudaičiui – specialus "Kings" vizitas ir pokalbis su Vlade Divacu". 24sek.lt. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  21. "Kings Announce 2016 NBA Summer League Roster". NBA. 5 July 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  22. "Cavaliers Acquire George Hill and Rodney Hood in Three-Team Trade". NBA.com. 8 February 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  23. "Gudaitis: "Džiugu, kad iš tokios situacijos pavyko išspausti maksimumą"".
  24. "Paviešintas Lietuvos rinktinės kandidatų sąrašas". Delfi.lt. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  25. "Dvejonės baigėsi – Jonas Kazlauskas paskelbė galutinį rinktinės dvyliktuką". 24sek.lt. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  26. "Arturas GUDAITIS at the FIBA EuroBasket 2017 - FIBA.basketball". FIBA.com. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
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