The Lithuanian international point guard Sarunas Jasikevicius has today signed a contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club to play for the team in the 2003/04 season. At his request he will play with the No 13 jersey.
Jasikevicius is playing this weekend with the Lithuanian National Team in an International Tournament in Strasbourg in which Israel is also participating, including six of Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv players.
Jasikevicius opted to play for Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv although he had offers from several NBA clubs including the World Champions San Antonio Spurs.
Jasikevicius, born 05/03/76 in Kaunas, 1.93 m tall, is the first Lithuanian to join Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv and one of the top European players to play for the club. He won a bronze medal in the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 and was one of the stars of the Lithuanian teams who were crowned European Junior Champions in 1994 in Tel Aviv & European u.22 Champions in 1996 in Istanbul. For the last three seasons he played for FC Barcelona and twice won the Spanish championship, twice the King’s cup and last May the Euroleague title.
Jasikevicius has also an American background. He played school basketball at Solanco High in Quarryville, Pa. In the 1998/99 season he played for Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius in his home country and the following season in Slovenia for Olimpija Ljubljana. At the end of the 2002/03 season he was named MVP of the Spanish League Finals.
His averages for Barcelona in the 2002/03 Euroleague were: 26:25 minutes, 13.3 pts with 49% for two, 38% for three, 96% in FT (70-73) as well as 3.1 assists & 1.7 rebounds.
