Arvydas Macijauskas (born 19 January 1980) is a Lithuanian former professional basketball player. Standing at 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) tall, he played at the shooting guard position. Widely considered one of the greatest Lithuanian players of the 2000s, he won numerous individual awards, as well as club and national team titles.
He announced his retirement from playing professional basketball in 2010, two years after his last club, Olympiacos, had released him following a prolonged judicial litigation.
Early career
Early in his career, Macijauskas was a member of the Neptūnas junior team.[2]
Professional playing career
Lithuania
Macijauskas made his pro debut in 1997, during the 1996–97 season, with the Lithuanian League club Neptūnas. He only played in 3 games in his rookie season, and spent most of the season with the Klaipėda University-Irvinga team. He spent three seasons with Neptūnas, and averaged 12.7 points per game, on 53 percent field goal shooting, in the Lithuanian League.
He played the next four seasons with the Lithuanian club Lietuvos rytas, and he led them to two Lithuanian League titles, in 2000 and 2002, and to a Northern European League title in 2003. He was named the Lithuanian League Finals MVP in 2002 and 2003. He averaged 15.3 points per game, on 61 percent field goal shooting, in 143 games played with Rytas.
On 11 November 2023, Rytas Vilnius retired Macijauskas' jersey No. 7.[3]
Macijauskas signed with the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets in 2005. He was rarely used in his only season in the NBA, as he totaled 135 minutes of playing time, and 44 points scored, in 19 games played.[4] He was bought out by the Hornets after the season ended. After returning to Europe, he criticized the Hornets and the NBA through the press. When asked if he had put the previous season behind him, Macijauskas responded: "I want to forget that year. Everything went wrong. A really bad coach, a bad franchise. At the end of the season, I didn't even think of returning to New Orleans next season. From the third game on, I was already sentenced to zero minutes for the rest of the year. The NBA is not a fun experience. Teams are (not) teams. There's no true commitment between the teammates."[5]
Macijauskas was healthy for the following EuroLeague 2007–08 season, and he was named the EuroLeague MVP of the Month for November 2007, after shooting a staggering 72.5 percent overall from the field (84.6 percent on 2 point field goal attempts, and 50 percent on 3 point field goal attempts). Olympiacos lost to the eventual EuroLeague champions CSKA Moscow, in the league's quarterfinals. Ironically, one of that team's leaders was also a Lithuanian player, Ramūnas Šiškauskas.
Later that year, Olympiacos sued Macijauskas for violating his contract terms (he injured his ankle during a holiday). The club wanted to cancel his contract, without paying him anymore compensation.[6] A court later made a decision in Macijauskas' favor. However, Olympiacos appealed it, and eventually won the case in November 2009.[7] In two seasons with Olympiacos, he played in 14 EuroLeague games, in which he averaged 13.8 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.
In June 2010, he announced his retirement from his basketball playing career, because of health reasons.[8]
He also played at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, where the Lithuanians finished in fourth place. He averaged 15.9 points per game, on 54 percent field goal shooting, and scored a tournament-high 32 points against China, in the quarterfinals.[9]
Macijauskas also played at the 2006 World Championship, where the Lithuanian team finished in seventh place. He was a candidate for the Lithuanian team for EuroBasket 2009 in Poland, but at the last minute, he declared that he would not participate in the tournament.[10]
Coaching career
On 19 June 2010 Macijauskas became the assistant coach of the Lithuanian club Perlas Vilnius,[11] but in August it was announced that he had left Perlas, for personal reasons.
Personal life
Arvydas Macijauskas married Viktorija Buder on 24 July 2010.[12]
^"Lithuania 95, China 75 Boxscore". En.basketball.doudiz.com. 26 August 2004. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
