Marius Grigonis (born 26 April 1994) is a Lithuanian professional basketball player for Panathinaikos of the Greek Basket League and the EuroLeague. [1][2][3] Grigonis is primarily a shooting guard, but he can also play at the point guard and small forward positions on occasion.
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.
On 15 May 2013, Grigonis was brought into the main Žalgiris roster for a game against BC Nizhny Novgorod in the VTB United League.
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.[4]
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.[5] He was named the Final Four MVP of the Basketball Champions League 2016–17 season. On 13 July 2017, Grigonis parted ways with Tenerife.[6]
On 13 July 2017, he signed a three-year deal with German club Alba Berlin.[7]
On 3 July 2018, Grigonis returned to Žalgiris Kaunas when he signed a three-year contract.[8] 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.[9]
On 12 June 2021, Grigonis signed a three-year contract with VTB United League champions and EuroLeague giant CSKA Moscow. He averaged 8.5 points, 1.9 assists, and 1.4 rebounds per game.
On 28 February 2022, upon the outbreak of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, he left the team.[1][2][3] The team accused him of violating his contract.[2][10]
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.[11]
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.[12] In 2014, coach Jonas Kazlauskas included Grigonis in the preliminary 24–player candidate list for the senior national basketball team.[13] Though, he was invited to the national team training camp for the first time only in 2016 and immediately qualified into the Olympic roster.[14][15]
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 |
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | PIR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018–19 | Žalgiris Kaunas | 34 | 18 | 20.4 | .466 | .442 | .935 | 2.1 | 1.9 | .6 | .2 | 8.7 | 9.3 |
2019–20 | Žalgiris Kaunas | 10 | 10 | 25.5 | .447 | .386 | .846 | 2.6 | 2 | .5 | .1 | 11.5 | 11 |
2020–21 | Žalgiris Kaunas | 34 | 34 | 27.3 | .481 | .456 | .944 | 2.1 | 3.3 | .8 | .1 | 13.4 | 13.7 |
2021–22 | CSKA Moscow | 16 | 3 | 19.2 | .429 | .444 | .955 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 0.6 | .0 | 8.5 | 7.4 |
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Panathinaikos current roster | |
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