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Lukas Lekavičius
	Lekavičius in 2022
No. 4 – Žalgiris Kaunas
Position	Point guard
League	LKL; EuroLeague
Personal information
Born	March 30, 1994 (age 30); Šilalė, Lithuania
Listed height	181 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Listed weight	78 kg (172 lb)
Career information
NBA draft	2016: undrafted
Playing career	2012–present
Career history
2012–2017	Žalgiris Kaunas
2012–2014	→Žalgiris-2 Kaunas
2017–2019	Panathinaikos
2019–present	Žalgiris Kaunas
Career highlights and awards
	2× Greek Basket League champion (2018, 2019); Greek Basketball Cup winner (2019); 5× LKL champion (2015–2017, 2020, 2021, 2023); 2× All-LKL Team (2017, 2022); 4× King Mindaugas Cup winner (2017, 2020, 2021, 2022); LKL Best Young Player (2015); LKF Cup winner (2015); LKL All-Star (2015);
Men's basketball
Representing Lithuania
EuroBasket
FIBA World U-19 Cup
FIBA European U-18 Championship
FIBA European U-16 Championship

Lukas Lekavičius (born March 30, 1994) is a Lithuanian professional basketball player for Žalgiris Kaunas of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) and the EuroLeague. Standing at 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in), he plays the point guard position. He was named to the LKL All-Tournament Team in 2017.^[1]

Professional career

After spending his whole career in the Žalgiris Kaunas system, helping Žalgiris dominate the LKL scene, Lekavičius joined Panathinaikos, on a two-year contract, in 2017.^[2] He was personally chosen by the Panathinaikos head coach, Xavi Pascual, who had previously observed Lekavičius playing for a couple of years.^[3] Lekavičius chose the number 19 for his Panathinaikos jersey, which was previously used in the same club by Lithuanian players Robertas Javtokas, Ramūnas Šiškauskas, Jonas Mačiulis and Lekavičius' former coach Šarūnas Jasikevičius.^[4]

After spending two years in Greece, Lekavičius returned to Lithuania and signed with Žalgiris on a two-year (1+1) deal on 17 June 2019.^[5] He averaged 10.5 points and 2.8 assists per game. He re-signed with the club on 8 July 2020.^[6]

National team career

Lekavičius had notable performances with the Lithuania youth national teams, winning two European silver medals, and the world bronze medal in 2013. In 2015, Lekavičius was included into the senior Lithuania men's national basketball team candidates list, by the team's head coach, Jonas Kazlauskas.^[7] He was also invited to the team's training camp, and he then made it onto the main national team that competed at the EuroBasket 2015, where he won a silver medal.^[8] In 2017, just before the start of the EuroBasket 2017 championship, Lekavičius suffered a foot injury that ultimately sidelined him for two months, and was replaced in the final 12-man squad by Adas Juškevičius.^[9]

In 2019, Lekavičius represented Lithuania in the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Despite the team falling short of its goals, he was a crucial asset, providing scoring off the bench as the backup point guard. In five games played, he averaged 13.0 points, with 65% overall shooting, 1.8 assists, 1.0 steals and 13.4 point efficiency rating in just 17.7 minutes of playing time.^[10]

Personal life

Lekavičius' has a couple of nicknames. His first nickname, Lightning McQueen (Žaibas Makvynas), was given to him by the Lithuanian TV broadcast commentator, and Lithuania national team staff representative, Linas Kunigėlis.^[11] His second nickname, Lithuanian Isaiah Thomas, was given to him by the Lithuanian sports media, because of his similarities to Isaiah Thomas' (Thomas' height is 5'9", and Lekavičius' height is 5'10". They are both left-handed, and at one time, both of their club team's main colors were green and white).

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
2014–15	Žalgiris	24	7	19.0	.417	.333	.778	1.8	2.7	.4	.0	5.5	5.1
2015–16		21	3	14.3	.418	.516	.737	1.1	1.3	.9	—	4.6	3.4
2016–17		30	0	18.1	.448	.338	.759	1.9	3.5	.6	.0	8.5	8.8
2017–18	Panathinaikos	31	3	12.7	.473	.486	.895	1.0	1.5	.2	—	3.9	4.5
2018–19	Panathinaikos	33	0	10.8	.423	.405	.786	.8	1.3	.3	.0	4.0	3.9
2019–20	Žalgiris	27	3	19.9	.535	.392	.862	1.3	2.8	.5	.0	10.5	10.2
2020–21		33	0	18.3	.550	.500	.864	1.2	2.4	.5	—	8.2	8.3
2021–22		32	5	23.7	.439	.431	.878	1.3	4.2	.7	—	10.2	10.9
2022–23		32	4	15.9	.469	.388	.918	1.1	1.5	.3	.1	6.9	6.2
2023–24		30	1	12.1	.372	.396	.857	.8	1.6	.3	—	4.9	3.7
Career		293	26	16.5	.461	.396	.843	1.2	2.3	.5	.0	6.8	6.6