Marius Grigonis

Marius Grigonis
Grigonis with the Lithuanian national team
No. 40 – Panathinaikos
PositionShooting guard / small forward
LeagueGBL
EuroLeague
Personal information
Born (1994-04-26) 26 April 1994 (age 30)
Kaunas, Lithuania
Listed height6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight205 lb (93 kg)
Career information
NBA draft2016: undrafted
Playing career2009–present
Career history
2009–2014Žalgiris Kaunas
2009–2013→Žalgiris-2
2013–2014→Peñas Huesca
2014–2016Manresa
2016–2017Tenerife
2017–2018Alba Berlin
2018–2021Žalgiris Kaunas
2021–2022CSKA Moscow
2022–presentPanathinaikos
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  Lithuania
FIBA World Under-19 Championship
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Czech Republic U-19 Team
FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship
Silver medal – second place 2012 Latvia/Lithuania U-18 Team
FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship
Silver medal – second place 2010 Montenegro U-16 Team

Marius Grigonis (born 26 April 1994) is a Lithuanian professional basketball player for Panathinaikos of the Greek Basketball League (GBL) and the EuroLeague. Standing at a height of 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m), he plays at the small forward and shooting guard positions.

Early career

Before starting his professional career, Grigonis played in the NKL with the Žalgiris-Arvydas Sabonis school for four seasons. He was an important contributor to the team during his debut season, and established himself as a leader by his third season. He won bronze medals during his last two seasons with the Sabonis school team.

Professional career

On 15 May 2013, Grigonis was brought into the main Žalgiris roster for a game against BC Nizhny Novgorod in the VTB United League.

Playing in Spain (2013–2017)

For the 2013–14 season, Grigonis was loaned to the Spanish second division team Peñas Huesca. He was included in the All-LEB Oro team.[1]

On 14 August 2014, Grigonis signed a two-year deal with Bàsquet Manresa of the Liga ACB. After spending two seasons with Manresa, he signed a "2+1" deal with Iberostar Tenerife on 28 July 2016.[2] He was named the Final Four MVP of the Basketball Champions League 2016–17 season. On 13 July 2017, Grigonis parted ways with Tenerife.[3]

Alba Berlin (2017–2018)

On 13 July 2017, he signed a three-year deal with German club Alba Berlin.[4]

Return to Žalgiris (2018–2021)

On 3 July 2018, Grigonis returned to Žalgiris Kaunas when he signed a three-year contract.[5] His season was cut short due to an injury in November 2019. Grigonis averaged 11.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game in the first 10 games of the 2019–20 season. On 8 July 2020, he re-signed with the team.[6]

CSKA Moscow (2021–2022)

On 12 June 2021, Grigonis signed a three-year contract with VTB United League champions and EuroLeague mainstays CSKA Moscow. He averaged 8.5 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game during his first season the Russian powerhouse.

On 28 February 2022, upon the outbreak of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, he departed the club.[7][8][9] The team accused him of violating his contract.[8][10]

Panathinaikos (2022–present)

On 14 July 2022, Grigonis signed a two-year contract with Panathinaikos of the Greek Basket League and the EuroLeague, after a settlement agreement between the Greek club and CSKA Moscow was reached.[11]

Grigonis received an improved role in the team rotation during his second season, under the supervision of new head coach Ergin Ataman. On 8 April 2024, Grigonis agreed upon a three-year contract extension that would keep him with the Greek powerhouse through 2027.[12] On July 11 of the same year, the deal was made official. [13]

National team career

Grigonis represented Lithuania in the U–16, U–18, U–19 and U–20 youth tournaments. He led his team to two silver medals and a bronze medal while participating in four tournaments. During the 2012 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship semifinal game, he scored the winning shot against Serbia. As a result of his contributions to the team's success, he was chosen to be included in the All–Tournament Team.[14] In 2014, coach Jonas Kazlauskas included Grigonis in the preliminary 24–player candidate list for the senior national basketball team.[15] Though, he was invited to the national team training camp for the first time only in 2016 and immediately qualified into the Olympic roster.[16][17]

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

† Denotes season in which Grigonis won the EuroLeague
* Led the league
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2018–19 Žalgiris 34 18 20.8 .466 .442 .935 2.1 1.9 .6 — 8.7 9.3
2019–20 10 10 25.7 .447 .386 .846 2.6 2.0 .5 .1 11.5 11
2020–21 34 34 27.6 .481 .456 .944 2.1 3.3 .8 .1 13.4 13.7
2021–22 CSKA Moscow 16 3 19.4 .424 .431 .917 1.4 1.9 .6 — 8.5 7.4
2022–23 Panathinaikos 27 7 17.9 .435 .435 .840 1.6 1.6 .4 — 8.1 7.6
2023–24† 41* 36 24.7 .483 .417 .900 2.7 1.3 .6 — 9.1 8.7
Career 162 108 22.9 .465 .432 .905 2.1 2.0 .6 .0 9.9 9.7

EuroCup

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2017–18 Alba Berlin 16 8 25.1 .449 .475 .897 3.1 2.6 .9 — 11.6 13.5
Career 16 8 25.1 .449 .475 .897 3.1 2.6 .9 — 11.6 13.5

Basketball Champions League

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2016–17 Canarias 14 10 20.0 .460 .347 .825 2.1 2.0 .6 .1 9.3
Career 14 10 20.0 .460 .347 .825 2.1 2.0 .6 .1 9.3

Domestic leagues

Year Team League GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2009–10 Lithuania Žalgiris-2 NKL 18 15.8 .382 .324 .786 1.8 .9 .7 .1 4.5
2010–11 Lithuania Žalgiris-2 NKL 14 8.3 .306 .273 .800 1.1 .4 .2 .1 2.3
2011–12 Lithuania Žalgiris-2 NKL 46 23.3 .494 .331 .808 3.6 2.2 2.0 .9 10.5
2012–13 Lithuania Žalgiris-2 NKL 38 29.0 .484 .419 .862 5.0 3.0 1.2 .1 13.9
2012–13 Lithuania Žalgiris VTBUL 1 1.9 — — — — — — — 0.0
2013–14 Spain Peñas Huesca LEB Oro 28 25.8 .491 .488 .829 2.9 2.0 .9 .2 13.0
2014–15 Spain Manresa ACB 26 21.2 .416 .430 .714 3.2 .6 .4 .1 7.7
2015–16 Spain Manresa ACB 34 25.2 .449 .394 .765 3.0 .9 .6 .1 9.7
2016–17 Spain Canarias ACB 30 19.6 .385 .363 .857 1.4 2.0 .5 .1 6.2
2017–18 Germany Alba Berlin BBL 47 24.7 .529 .469 .879 2.7 2.6 1.1 .1 12.0
2018–19 Lithuania Žalgiris LKL 40 20.4 .504 .368 .892 3.0 2.3 .7 .1 9.5
2019–20 Lithuania Žalgiris LKL 7 17.5 .405 .364 .909 1.9 1.7 .1 — 6.9
2020–21 Lithuania Žalgiris LKL 39 21.0 .527 .467 .913 2.0 3.4 1.0 .0 12.9
2021–22 Russia CSKA Moscow VTBUL 10 19.0 .554 .512 .867 .6 2.0 .3 — 12.0
2022–23 Greece Panathinaikos HEBA A1 19 25.6 .437 .418 .778 2.9 2.7 .8 .0 12.4
2023–24 Greece Panathinaikos HEBA A1 35 19.9 .524 .513 .875 2.4 1.6 .7 .0 9.2

References

  1. ^ Sueños e ilusiones en el quinteto ideal de la temporada 2013/14 Archived 11 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine; FEB.es, 9 April 2014
  2. ^ Vanagas, Tomas. "Oficialu: Marius Grigonis keliasi į Tenerifės komandą". BasketNews.lt. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  3. ^ "Iberostar Tenerife parts ways with Marius Grigonis, signs Rosco Allen". Sportando.com. 13 July 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  4. ^ "ALBA inks shooting ace Grigonis". Eurocupbasketball.com. 13 July 2017. Archived from the original on 16 July 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  5. ^ "Zalgiris product Grigonis comes back to Kaunas". Zalgiris.lt. 3 July 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  6. ^ Borghesan, Ennio Terrasi (8 July 2020). "Marius Grigonis and Lukas Lekavicius to stay at Zalgiris Kaunas". Sportando. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  7. ^ "Tornike Shengelia leaves CSKA Moscow: I can't play for the Russian army club". MARCA. 26 February 2022.
  8. ^ a b "5 CSKA Moscow players leave team for war between Russia, Ukraine". www.aa.com.tr.
  9. ^ Amico, Sam (1 March 2022). "FIBA Suspends All Russian Teams, Officials From Competition".
  10. ^ Rowienski, Alex (28 February 2022). "Grigonis leaves CSKA Moscow". Eurobasket. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  11. ^ Panathinaikos lands Marius Grigonis
  12. ^ "Grigonis confirms three-year contract extension with Panathinaikos". Eurohoops. 8 April 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  13. ^ "Read what Marius Grigonis stated about his commitment to Panathinaikos BC AKTOR". x.com. 11 July 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  14. ^ "MVP Saric Heads All Tournament Team | U18 European Championship Men - Division A". Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  15. ^ "FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014". FIBA.basketball.
  16. ^ "J. Kazlauskas apsisprendė: rinktinės sąrašas – be L. Lekavičiaus, bet su naujais veidais". Krepsinis.lt. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  17. ^ "Jonas Kazlauskas paskelbė galutinį Lietuvos rinktinės dvyliktuką". 24sek.lt. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
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