{"id":510525,"date":"2024-07-24T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-24T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8080\/maccabi-signs-rokas-jokubaitis\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T09:21:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T06:21:21","slug":"maccabi-signs-rokas-jokubaitis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/maccabi-signs-rokas-jokubaitis\/","title":{"rendered":"Maccabi signs Rokas Jokubaitis"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"responsive-video-container\" style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; margin-bottom: 20px;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lNsXnkoSf_4\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"> \t<span style=\"font-size:14px;\">Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv added Lithuanian point guard Rojas Jokubaitis, who signed a three-year contract with the team. One of the most impressive young players in the EuroLeague in recent years, 23-years-old Jokubaitis joins the yellows from Barcelona, where he was named the EuroLeague&rsquo;s Rising Star in 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n<p> \t<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">Standing at 1.93 M tall (6 ft 4 in) Rokas is a fierce and cool-headed lefty guard, that knows how to play through contact, shoot well from all ranges and attack the rim. He already has 6 years of EuroLeague experience under his belt, along with dozens of appearances for the Lithuanian national team, which translates to a confident style of play.<\/span><\/p>\n<p> \t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" alt=\"\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rokas20yes20169.jpg\" style=\"font-size: 14px;\" class=\"wp-image-517582 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rokas20yes20169.jpg 980w, https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rokas20yes20169-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rokas20yes20169-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px\" \/><\/p>\n<p> \t<span style=\"font-size:14px;\">&#8220;I am really happy and cannot wait to start with the team, to play in front of you guys, one of the best fanbases in Europe&#8221;, said the thrilled Rokas Jokubaitis. &#8220;Thanks to the coach, bosses and the whole club for believing in me. I am really happy and cannot wait to start the season&#8221;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p> \t<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">&#8220;We are glad that Rokas Jokubaitis joins Maccabi&#8221;, said head coach Oded Kattash. &#8220;He is a young point guard with lots of EuroLeague experience both at Zalgiris and Barcelona, along with many appearances in the Spanish league and Lithuanian national team. I have no doubt that he will fit in with the fabric of the team we are building, and he will help us achieve our goals&#8221;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p> \t<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">&#8220;This is a young and very hungry player&#8221;, added sporting director Avi Even. &#8220;Rokas has big upside and he arrives at a great timing of rebuilding that fits both sides. He has a unique personality and understands the club&#8217;s DNA. We are happy that he chose to tie his future with Maccabi&#8221;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p> \t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" alt=\"\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rokas20dribbles20169.jpg\" style=\"font-size: 14px;\" class=\"wp-image-517583 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rokas20dribbles20169.jpg 980w, https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rokas20dribbles20169-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rokas20dribbles20169-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px\" \/><\/p>\n<p> \t<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">Rokas Jokubaitis was born on November 19, 2000 in the city of Ma?eikiai, in the northwest of Lithuania. Baketball runs deep in his veins &#8211; both his parents were players, and so is his sister. Jokubaitis began playing in Klaipeda, but it wasn&rsquo;t long before his talents earned him a spot in Zalgiris Kaunas. After starring for the greens&rsquo; youth teams, in 2019 Rokas was called up to the pro team by then-head coach, Sarunas Jasikevicius.<\/span><\/p>\n<p> \t<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">The fantastic guard helped Zalgiris win three local championships and two cups and decided to sign-up for the NBA Draft. He was picked 34th by the Oklahoma City Thunder, who later traded his rights to New York Knicks. But after not earning a roster spot, Saras lured him to Barcelona in 2021.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p> \t<span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">With the Catalans, Rokas made a big contribution despite crowded back courts year after year, scoring over 7 points per game in the tough Spanish league in each of his three seasons. Simultaneously, Jokubaitis became a regular on the Lithuania national team, taking part in 8 games in last year&rsquo;s World Cup and posting 12.6 PPG (55% from deep), 5.8 APG and 2.3 RPG.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The young Lithuanian point guard arrives from Barcelona on a contract for the next three seasons: \u201cI cannot wait to start playing in front of you guys, one of the best fanbases in Europe&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":517581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"custom_author":[],"class_list":["post-510525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510525"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":517589,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510525\/revisions\/517589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510525"},{"taxonomy":"custom_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maccabi.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/custom_author?post=510525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}