Domantas Sabonis

Domantas Sabonis
No. 3 – Oklahoma City Thunder
Position Power forward / Center
League NBA
Personal information
Born (1996-05-03) May 3, 1996
Portland, Oregon
Nationality Lithuanian
Listed height 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight 240 lb (109 kg)
Career information
College Gonzaga (2014–2016)
NBA draft 2016 / Round: 1 / Pick: 11th overall
Selected by the Orlando Magic
Playing career 2012–present
Career history
2012–2014 Unicaja Málaga
2012–2013 → Clínicas Rincón
2016–present Oklahoma City Thunder
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  Lithuania
EuroBasket
2015 France
European Youth Olympic Festival
2011 Turkey Team

Domantas Sabonis (born May 3, 1996) is a Lithuanian professional basketball player for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He previously played in Spain for Unicaja Málaga's junior and senior teams before playing two seasons of college basketball for Gonzaga. He is the son of the Lithuanian basketball player Arvydas Sabonis, and was born in Portland, while his father was playing for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Early career

Despite being only a 16-year-old, on September 5, 2012, Sabonis debuted for Unicaja Málaga against Cibona Zagreb.[1] He was later loaned to Clínicas Rincón for the 2012–13 season. He returned to Málaga for the 2013–14 season and debuted in the Liga ACB on October 13, 2013,[2] becoming the youngest Unicaja player to debut in the ACB (17 years, 5 months and 10 days).[3]

On October 18, 2013, Sabonis debuted in the Euroleague against Olympiacos Piraeus. In February 2014, he finished in the top 10 for the 2013 FIBA Europe Young Men's Player of the Year Award voting.[4] His best ACB game came on May 3, 2014, when he scored 13 points on 100% shooting.[5] On May 10, 2014, Sabonis helped Unicaja's junior team win the Spain Youth Basketball League silver medal. In the final game, he recorded 14 points and eight rebounds.[6] In January 2015, he finished in the top 5 for the 2014 FIBA Europe Young Men's Player of the Year Award voting.[7] During his time with Unicaja, he never signed a professional contract with salary in order to remain eligible for the NCAA.[8]

College career

"I like a lot of things about his game. He is extremely aggressive, plays with a motor, is always going hard. Really high level rebounder, great passer, physical player, and runs and moves exceptionally well for a big guy."

— Mark Few, Gonzaga Head Coach.[9]

Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight Commit date
Domantas Sabonis
PF		 Portland, Oregon Sunny View School / Unicaja Malaga 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Apr 17, 2014 
Scout: N/A   Rivals:4/5 stars   247Sports:5/5 stars    ESPN: N/A   ESPN grade: NR
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: NR   Rivals: NR  247Sports: #26  ESPN: NR
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

Freshman season

Sabonis declined a Unicaja offer of a 3-year $630,000 contract in order to play in the NCAA.[10] He committed to NCAA Division I squad Gonzaga University prior to the 2014–15 season.[11][12] On November 14, 2014, Domantas Sabonis solidly debuted by scoring 14 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, and dishing 2 assists, along with one steal and one block in 20 minutes.[13] On February 3, 2015, after averaging 13 points and 11 rebounds per 26 minutes he was named West Coast Conference Player of the Week.[14] 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.[15] On March 10, 2015 the Gonzaga Bulldogs defeated the BYU Cougars 91–75 and won the WCC Tournament Title for the third straight time.[16][17] Sabonis was one of the best players in the game with 15 points and 6 rebounds.[18][19] During March Madness, Sabonis led Gonzaga to the Sweet 16 with 18 points and 9 rebounds.[20] 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.[21] The season ended with a loss to the future champions Duke and Sabonis was named to the NCAA Tournament South Regional All-Tournament team.[22] In his first NCAA season, Sabonis averaged 9.7 points, along with Gonzaga team highs of 66.8% field-goal percentage and 7.1 rebounds.[23]

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.[24]

Sophomore season

On August 13, 2015, ESPN placed Domantas Sabonis 20th in its NCAA players rankings heading for the 2015-16 season, describing him as "one of the nation's best, and edgiest, rebounders".[25]

"No one plays harder than Gonzaga's Domantas Sabonis. The sophomore forward is a walking double-double, which could earn him third-team All-American honors."

— Jeff Goodman, ESPN.[26]

Sabonis began his second NCAA season with an outstanding career-high performance of 26 points (2FG: 12/13, FT: 2/2); he also added 7 rebounds in a 91–52 win over Northern Arizona.[27] On December 19, 2015, Sabonis set a new career high in points and rebounds, scoring 36 points (FG: 12/16, FT: 12/15) and adding a 16 rebounds; his team won 86–79.[28] The Zags' head coach Mark Few said that he never had seen a monster line like that for a Zag.[29] Two days later, Sabonis improved on another career high by dishing out 6 assists; he also scored 23 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and led Gonzaga past the Pepperdine Waves 99-73.[30] On January 2, 2016, he was just one point shy of his scoring record with 35 points; he also added 14 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks in a thrilling come-from-behind victory in OT versus the San Francisco Dons 102–94.[31] On January 9, 2016, Sabonis once again improved his rebounds record by grabbing 17 rebounds, and adding 28 points, 3 steals, 3 blocks and 4 assists, his team won 85–74. After the game, the Bulldogs head coach Mark Few said: "Sabonis, none of us can take for granted the type of year he is having... Such consistency, it's amazing".[32] On January 21, 2016, nearly posted a triple-double with 17 points, 13 rebounds, and a career-high 7 assists.[33] Two days later, Sabonis grabbed a new career-high of 20 rebounds, as well as 12 points and 2 assists.[34] He was named to the 35-man midseason watchlist for the Naismith Trophy on February 11.[35] On March 1, 2016, he was included into the First-team All-WCC.[36] Two days later, Sabonis received CoSIDA Academic All-American honors.[37]

On March 17, Sabonis began his second March Madness appearance by leading his team past the Seton Hall Pirates 68-52 to the Round of 32, scoring 21 points, grabbing 16 rebounds and making 4 assists, despite having a flu.[38][39][40] On March 19, he helped his team to advance into the Sweet 16 stage with 19 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, crushing the third-seeded Utah Utes 82–59.[41] Moreover, he limited his direct opponent and one of the top prospects Jakob Pöltl to just 5 points and 4 rebounds.[42] Following it, Sabonis was the most efficient post-up player left in the NCAA tournament.[43] Despite his yet another monster performance of 19 points, 17 rebounds (7 offensive) and 5 blocks on March 25, his journey was stopped by the Syracuse Orange during the final match moments, losing 60–63.[44] In his second NCAA season Sabonis almost doubled his every single statistical line comparing with the previous season.[45] During the March Madness, his averages were 19.6 points, 14.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 3.3 blocks.[46] On March 29, Sabonis was named to the CBS College Basketball All-America Third-team, along with Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram, Jamal Murray and Yogi Ferrell.[47] Sabonis also was one of the finalists in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award.[48]

College statistics

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2014–15 Gonzaga[49] 38 1 21.6 .668 – .664 7.1 0.9 0.4 0.3 9.7
2015–16 Gonzaga 36 31 31.9 .611 .357 .769 11.8 1.8 0.6 0.9 17.6
Career 74 32 26.6 .632 .357 .729 9.4 1.3 0.5 0.6 13.5

Professional career

NBA draft preparation

In early April 2016, several U.S. media reports indicated that he would declare himself eligible for the 2016 NBA draft and would hire an agent, marking the end of his career at Gonzaga.[50] On April 20, he signed with Jason Ranne and Greg Lawrence of Wasserman Media Group for representation in the NBA draft.[51] Prior the draft, he rejected the offer to participate in NBA Draft Combine.[52] Instead, he participated in four pre-draft workouts with the Phoenix Suns, Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics and Utah Jazz.[53]

Oklahoma City Thunder (2016–present)

Sabonis was selected 11th overall by the Orlando Magic in the 2016 NBA draft.[54] He was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder along with Ersan İlyasova and Victor Oladipo for Serge Ibaka on draft night.[55][56] He did not participate in the 2016 NBA Summer League in order to join the Lithuania men's national basketball team training camp.[57] On 12 August 2016, he signed his rookie scale contract with the Thunder.[58] He made his debut for the Thunder in their season opener as their starting power forward on 26 October 2016, recording five points and four rebounds in 16 minutes as a starter in a 103–97 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.[59] He was the team's first player since Kevin Durant who debuted as a starting five member.[60] On 7 November, he recorded season highs of 15 points and 10 rebounds in a 97–85 win over the Miami Heat.[61]

National team career

"I can say that another basketball star is growing. His father was uncommon and such human is one per 100 years. I was thinking that if Domantas will not interfere the national team, it will be good, but when he actually helps, I appreciate it very nicely."

— Jonas Kazlauskas, describing the Arvydas Sabonis son Domantas in 2015.[62]

Sabonis made his international debut with the Lithuania U-16 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[63] and was tournament leader in rebounds per game.[64] 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.[65] In 2014, coach Jonas Kazlauskas included Sabonis into preliminary 24 players list for main Lithuania men's national basketball team.[66] 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.[67] He was once again one of the best tournament rebounders, this time outperformed only by Yankuba Sima, who had 12.1 rebounds per game.[68] In 2015 Sabonis was once again included into the Lithuania men's national team extended candidates list.[69] On July 9, 2015 he was invited to join the Lithuania men's national team training camp for the first time.[70] On July 15, 2015 by participating in 2015 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship, Sabonis achieved the youth tournaments rebounds record by grabbing 28 of them, by doing so he also led Lithuanians to victory versus Ukraine 70–57.[71] Not surprisingly, he was the best tournament rebounder as in almost all previous youth competitions, with 13.2 per game this time.[72] On July 29, 2015, Sabonis debuted in Lithuania men's national team during game versus Australia by scoring 4 points and grabbing 7 rebounds.[73] By doing so, he immediately became the all-time youngest Lithuanian to debut in a game representing the primary men's national team.[74] Previously, the record was held by the Lithuanian basketball star Jonas Valančiūnas, who did that when he was 19 years and 3 months old. Sabonis performed it being 19 years, 2 months and 26 days old.[75] In total, he averaged 6 points and 5.9 rebounds during the preparation games phase, and was the team's second best rebounder after Jonas Valančiūnas.[76] Following the solid performance at such age, Sabonis qualified into the Lithuania men's national basketball team and represented it at EuroBasket 2015, and won a silver medal during his debut year.[77] He also was a part of the Lithuania Olympic national team during the 2016 Summer Olympics.[78]

References

  1. ↑ Sabonis debiutavo „Unicaja“ komandoje (Lithuanian)
  2. ↑ „Unicaja“ su D.Saboniu ir M.Kuzminsku pergale pradėjo Ispanijos čempionatą (Lithuanian)
  3. ↑ D.Sabonis tapo jauniausiu Ispanijos čempionate žaidusiu „Unicaja“ žaidėju (Lithuanian)
  4. ↑ SARIC IS 2013 YOUNG MEN'S POY
  5. ↑ Per 18–ąjį gimtadienį Sabonis sužaidė geriausias sezono rungtynes (Lithuanian)
  6. ↑ Sabonis su „Unicaja“ Ispanijos jaunimo pirmenybėse iškovojo sidabro medalius (Lithuanian)
  7. ↑ SARIC IS 2014 YOUNG MEN'S POY
  8. ↑ Domantas Sabonis prisijungs prie pagrindinės „Unicaja“ komandos (Lithuanian)
  9. ↑ "Domas Sabonis making early impression at Gonzaga". October 15, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Domas Sabonis a mini me of Arvydas, could he end up in Portland?". Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  11. ↑ "Domas Sabonis Signs Men's Basketball Letter-Of-Intent". April 17, 2014.
  12. ↑ Interview of Domas Sabonis (English)
  13. ↑ NCAA starte – puikus Sabonio pasirodymas (video) (Lithuanian)
  14. ↑ "Gonzaga's Domantas Sabonis Named WCC Men's Basketball Player of the Week". Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  15. ↑ "WCC Announces 2015 Men's Basketball All-Conference Team". Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  16. ↑ MBB Grabs Third Straight WCC Tournament Title (English)
  17. ↑ Highlights - Gonzaga vs BYU (WCC Championship 2015) - VIDEO (English)
  18. ↑ Solidžiai rungtyniavusio Sabonio komanda triumfavo Vakarų pakrantės konferencijoje (Lithuanian)
  19. ↑ D.Sabonis svariai prisidėjo prie „Bulldogs“ triumfo Vakarų pakrantės konferencijos finale (Lithuanian)
  20. ↑ MBB Sweeps Past Iowa for Trip to Sweet 16 (English)
  21. ↑ „Bulldogs“ su Saboniu po 16 metų pertraukos pateko tarp 8 geriausių NCAA komandų (video) (Lithuanian)
  22. ↑ "Notebook: Zag seniors already missed". Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  23. ↑ NCAA lietuviai: nuo debiutavusio Sabonio iki prestižinį universitetą baigiančio Maldūno (Lithuanian)
  24. ↑ "Domantas Sabonis back to Gonzaga". Retrieved April 4, 2015.
  25. ↑ "Updated top 25 players for 2015-2016". August 13, 2015.
  26. ↑ "Upperclassmen dominate Goodman's midseason All-Americans". January 7, 2016.
  27. ↑ "No. 10 MBB Cruises to 91-52 Win Over N. Arizona". GoZags.com. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  28. ↑ "Sabonis Scores 36 As MBB Holds Off Tennessee 86-79". December 19, 2015.
  29. ↑ "Domantas Sabonis' big night leads Gonzaga past Tennessee in Seattle". Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  30. ↑ "MBB Makes 16 Threes to Beat Pepperdine 99-73". December 21, 2015.
  31. ↑ "Sabonis, Gonzaga Rally Late to Beat SF in OT, 102-94". January 2, 2016.
  32. ↑ "Wiltjer, Sabonis Lead MBB Over Portland 85-74". January 9, 2016.
  33. ↑ "Gonzaga Drops Road Contest at Saint Mary's, 70-67". January 21, 2016.
  34. ↑ "Second-Half Surge Pushes Gonzaga past Pacific 71-61". January 23, 2016.
  35. ↑ Payne, Terrence (February 11, 2016). "Naismith Trophy midseason list announced". Fox Sports. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  36. ↑ "Domantas Sabonis nominuotas į pirmąją konferencijos komandą". BasketNews.lt. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  37. ↑ "MBB's Sabonis Named CoSIDA Academic All-American". GoZags.com. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  38. ↑ "Gonzaga Upsets Seton Hall in Round of 64, 68-52". GoZags.com. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  39. ↑ "Gonzaga vs. Seton Hall - Box Score". ESPN.go.com. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  40. ↑ "Neeilinė D.Sabonio naktis: šou nesustabdęs gripas ir varžovui išnarintas petys". 24sek.lt. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  41. ↑ "MBB Routs Utah 82-59 to move to Sweet 16". GoZags.com. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  42. ↑ "No. 11 Gonzaga throttles Utah". NCAA.com. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  43. ↑ Winn, Luke. "Gonzaga forward Domantas Sabonis is the best big man left in the NCAAs". CampRush.com. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  44. ↑ "SU beats Gonzaga in final moments". NCAA.com. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  45. ↑ "Domas Sabonis". Basketball.RealGM.com. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  46. ↑ "ESPN sužavėjęs Domantas Sabonis sulaukė puikios NBA naujokų biržos prognozės". 24sek.lt. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  47. ↑ "CBS Sports 2015-16 College Basketball All-America Team, Coach of the Year". CBSSPORTS.com. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  48. ↑ http://www.sltrib.com/home/3756599-155/utah-basketball-jakob-poeltl-wins-kareem
  49. ↑ "Sports-Reference Profile: Domantas Sabonis". Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  50. ↑ Vecenie, Sam (April 8, 2016). "Gonzaga's Domantas Sabonis, son of Hall of Famer, is ready for NBA Draft". CBSSports.com. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  51. ↑ "D. Sabonis veržiasi į NBA: pasisamdė du agentus ir į NCAA nebegrįš". Krepsinis.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  52. ↑ "D. Sabonis atsisakė kvietimo į prestižinę NBA stovyklą". Krepsinis.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  53. ↑ "Domanto Sabonio labiausiai nori keturios NBA komandos". BasketNews.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  54. ↑ "NBA duris pravėrė antras Sabonis: Domantui – 11-as šaukimas!". Krepsinis.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  55. ↑ "Domantas Sabonis iškeistas į „Thunder"". BasketNews.lt (in Lithuanian). 24 June 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  56. ↑ "Domantas Sabonis traded to Oklahoma City Thunder in deal sending Serge Ibaka to Orlando: report". Oregon Live. 23 June 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  57. ↑ Slater, Anthony. "OKC Thunder: Domantas Sabonis expected to compete for Lithuania in the Olympics, miss summer league". NEWSOK.com. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  58. ↑ "Thunder Signs Domantas Sabonis". NBA.com. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  59. ↑ "Westbrook, Thunder spoil Embiid's debut for 76ers". ESPN.com. 26 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  60. ↑ "Iš tėvo šešėlio išlįsti bandantis D. Sabonis NBA kuria savąją istoriją". Krepsinis.lt. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  61. ↑ "Kanter scores 24 as Thunder beat Heat 97-85". ESPN.com. 7 November 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  62. ↑ "Kazlauskas: apie rusų norą nutraukti darbą rinktinėje ir augančią Sabonio žvaigždę". BasketNews.lt. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  63. ↑ Domantas Sabonis FIBAEurope.com (English)
  64. ↑ Players - Statistical Leaders (Rebounds) | U18 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP MEN - DIVISION A (English)
  65. ↑ Domantas Sabonis leds Lithuania past Serbia after OT (Lithuanian)
  66. ↑ LTU - Numerous options as Kazlauskas announces list for Spain 2014 (English)
  67. ↑ Domantas Sabonis | U18 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP MEN - DIVISION A (English)
  68. ↑ Domantas Sabonis |U18 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP MEN - DIVISION A
  69. ↑ "Paviešintas Lietuvos rinktinės kandidatų sąrašas". Delfi.lt. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  70. ↑ "J. Kazlausko sprendimas: paaiškėjo, kurie krepšininkai ruošis Europos čempionatui". Delfi.lt. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  71. ↑ "Sabonis pagerino Europos jaunimo čempionatų rekordą". BasketNews.lt. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  72. ↑ "Players - Statistical Leaders / U20 Europe Championship Men - Division A". u20men.fibaeurope.com. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  73. ↑ "Kazlauskas: "Domantui dar viskas prieš akis" (video)". BasketNews.lt. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  74. ↑ Urbonas, Donatas. "Domantą Sabonį nuo istorinio įrašo Lietuvos krepšinyje skyrė nenumatytos aplinkybės". 24sek.lt. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  75. ↑ Urbonas, Donatas. "Domantą Sabonį nuo istorinio įrašo Lietuvos krepšinyje skyrė nenumatytos aplinkybės". 24sek.lt. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  76. ↑ "Lietuvos rinktinės statistika: naudingiausi, rezultatyviausi ir taikliausi". BasketNews.lt. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  77. ↑ "Dvejonės baigėsi – Jonas Kazlauskas paskelbė galutinį rinktinės dvyliktuką". 24sek.lt. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  78. ↑ "Domantas SABONIS at the Players of the Rio 2016 - Olympic Basketball Tournament (Men) 2016 - FIBA.com". FIBA.com. Retrieved 25 November 2016.

External links

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