Domantas Sabonis
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| No. 11 – Gonzaga Bulldogs | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Power forward / Center | |||||||||
| League | West Coast Conference | |||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||
| Born |
May 3, 1996 Portland, Oregon | |||||||||
| Nationality | Lithuanian / American | |||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | |||||||||
| Listed weight | 231 lb (105 kg) | |||||||||
| Career information | ||||||||||
| College | Gonzaga (2014–present) | |||||||||
| Career history | ||||||||||
| 2012–2014 | Unicaja Málaga | |||||||||
| 2012–2013 | → Clínicas Rincón (loan) | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | ||||||||||
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Medals
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Domantas Sabonis (born May 3, 1996) is a Lithuanian-American basketball player who currently plays college basketball for Gonzaga University. He previously played in Spain for Unicaja Málaga's junior and senior teams, although he never signed a professional contract. He is the son of the Lithuanian basketball player Arvydas Sabonis, and was born in Portland, Oregon while his father was playing for the Portland Trail Blazers. Domantas wears the number 11 just like his father.
Professional career
Despite being only a 16-year-old, on September 5, 2012 he debuted in the main Unicaja Málaga team during the game against Cibona Zagreb.[1] However he was loaned to Clínicas Rincón for the 2012–13 season. He was recalled in 2013. Domantas never signed a professional contract with salary because he wished to remain eligible for the NCAA.[2] On October 13, 2013, he debuted in ACB league as a Unicaja member. Domantas started the game in starting line-up and scored 6 points, grabbed 3 rebounds per 15 minutes of game action.[3] He is the youngest Unicaja player to debut in ACB (17 years, 5 months and 10 days).[4] On October 18, 2013, he debuted in the Euroleague during the game against the consecutive 2-time champions Olympiacos Piraeus by scoring 2 points with a dunk and grabbing 2 rebounds per 11 minutes.[5] In 2014 D.Sabonis was named as one of the best young European players of the year.[6] His best ACB game as a Unicaja Málaga member was during his eighteenth birthday on May 3, 2014, when he scored 13 points per 17 minutes with 100% shooting.[7] On May 10, 2014 Sabonis won Spain Youth Basketball League silver medal with Unicaja junior team. During final game he scored 14 points (including one three pointer) and grabbed 8 rebounds.[8] On January 21, 2015, Domantas took fifth place in the FIBA Europe Young Men's Player of the Year Award contest.[9]
International career
Sabonis made his international debut with the Lithuania national team at the 2012 FIBA U-16 European Championship, averaging 14.1 points, 14.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He grabbed a tournament-high 27 rebounds against Poland on July 27. In 2013, at 17 years of age, Domantas played for Lithuania U-18 team in 2013 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship. He averaged 14 points, 11.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game[10] and was tournament leader in rebounds per game.[11] His best game was against Serbia when he scored 22 points, grabbed 22 rebounds and dished out 3 assists. Lithuania won the game 74-70 in OT.[12] In 2014, coach Jonas Kazlauskas included Sabonis into preliminary 24 players list for main Lithuania national basketball team.[13] In 2014, D.Sabonis played in the FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship for the second time. This time he averaged 15.9 points, 12.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.[14] He was once again one of the best tournament rebounders, this time outperformed only by Yankuba Sima, who had 12.1 rebounds per game.[15]
College career
Sabonis committed to NCAA Division I squad Gonzaga University prior to the 2014–15 season.[16][17] On November 14, 2014, Domantas Sabonis solidly debuted by playing 20 minutes, scoring 14 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, dishing 2 assists, making one steal and one block.[18] On February 3, 2015, after averaging 13 points and 11 rebounds per 26 minutes he was named West Coast Conference Player of the Week.[19] After a stellar regular season with Gonzaga, Sabonis was named to the All-WCC Second team, as well as to the WCC All-Freshman team.[20] On March 10, 2015 the Gonzaga Bulldogs defeated the BYU Cougars 91–75 and won the WCC Tournament Title for the third straight time.[21][22] Sabonis was one of the best players in the game with 15 points and 6 rebounds.[23][24] During March Madness, Sabonis led Gonzaga to the Sweet 16 with 18 points and 9 rebounds.[25] Gonzaga beat UCLA to make it to the Elite Eight, Gonzaga's first regional final with Mark Few as head coach and second overall. Sabonis scored 12 points and grabbed 8 rebounds during that game.[26] The season ended with a loss to the future champions Duke and Sabonis was named to the NCAA Tournament South Regional All-Tournament team.[27] In his first NCAA season, Sabonis averaged 9.7 points, along with Gonzaga team highs of 66.8% shooting percentage and 7.1 rebounds.[28]
On April 4, 2015, Few told ESPN that Sabonis planned to return for his sophomore season at Gonzaga, adding that Sabonis never seriously considered declaring for the 2015 NBA draft.[29]
References
- ↑ Domantas Sabonis debuted in Unicaja main team (Lithuanian)
- ↑ Domantas Sabonis joins main Unicaja roster (Lithuanian)
- ↑ Unicaja with D.Sabonis and M.Kuzminskas started ACB league by victory (Lithuanian)
- ↑ D.Sabonis became the youngest player to debut in ACB as a Unicaja member. (Lithuanian)
- ↑ Highlights: Olympiacos Piraeus-Unicaja Malaga (1:35 D.Sabonis dunk) (English)
- ↑ FIBA EUROPE YOUNG MEN'S PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2013 FINAL VOTING (English)
- ↑ Per 18–ąjį gimtadienį Sabonis sužaidė geriausias sezono rungtynes (Lithuanian)
- ↑ Sabonis su „Unicaja“ Ispanijos jaunimo pirmenybėse iškovojo sidabro medalius (Lithuanian)
- ↑ Saric Is 2014 Young Men's POY (English)
- ↑ Domantas Sabonis FIBAEurope.com (English)
- ↑ Players - Statistical Leaders (Rebounds) | U18 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP MEN - DIVISION A (English)
- ↑ Domantas Sabonis leds Lithuania past Serbia after OT (Lithuanian)
- ↑ LTU - Numerous options as Kazlauskas announces list for Spain 2014 (English)
- ↑ Domantas Sabonis | U18 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP MEN - DIVISION A (English)
- ↑ Domantas Sabonis |U18 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP MEN - DIVISION A
- ↑ "Domas Sabonis Signs Men's Basketball Letter-Of-Intent" (Press release). Retrieved April 26, 2014.
- ↑ Interview of Domas Sabonis (English)
- ↑ NCAA starte – puikus Sabonio pasirodymas (video) (Lithuanian)
- ↑ "Gonzaga's Domantas Sabonis Named WCC Men's Basketball Player of the Week". Retrieved March 3, 2015.
- ↑ "WCC Announces 2015 Men's Basketball All-Conference Team". Retrieved March 3, 2015.
- ↑ MBB Grabs Third Straight WCC Tournament Title (English)
- ↑ Highlights - Gonzaga vs BYU (WCC Championship 2015) - VIDEO (English)
- ↑ Solidžiai rungtyniavusio Sabonio komanda triumfavo Vakarų pakrantės konferencijoje (Lithuanian)
- ↑ D.Sabonis svariai prisidėjo prie „Bulldogs“ triumfo Vakarų pakrantės konferencijos finale (Lithuanian)
- ↑ MBB Sweeps Past Iowa for Trip to Sweet 16 (English)
- ↑ „Bulldogs“ su Saboniu po 16 metų pertraukos pateko tarp 8 geriausių NCAA komandų (video) (Lithuanian)
- ↑ "Notebook: Zag seniors already missed". Retrieved March 29, 2015.
- ↑ NCAA lietuviai: nuo debiutavusio Sabonio iki prestižinį universitetą baigiančio Maldūno (Lithuanian)
- ↑ "Domantas Sabonis back to Gonzaga". Retrieved April 4, 2015.