By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
That goodbye from Javtokas may come as soon as Friday, with Zalgiris sitting is one victory away from successfully defending the Lithuanian League crown.
Javtokas (2.11 meters, 37 years old) is one of the 17 players who have won both the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and the 7DAYS EuroCup titles, all after his remarkable recovery from a life-threatening motorcycle accident at start of his career. It was just three years after the accident that Javtokas led Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius to its first EuroCup title in 2005 as MVP of the final game, in which he had 14 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks in a 78-74 win against Alfa Makedonikos. Two years later, Javtokas went on to lift the EuroLeague trophy with Panathinaikos Athens in 2007.
He played 10 EuroLeague seasons with five different teams – Rytas, Panathinaikos, Khimki Moscow Region, Valencia Basket and Zalgiris – amassing 1,146 points (7.7 ppg.) and 789 rebounds (4.6 rpg.). In 60 EuroCup games with Rytas and Dynamo Moscow, Javtokas averaged 10.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks. Javtokas in one of only two players – the other is D’or Fischer – to be a Top 10 shot blocker in both the EuroLeague and the EuroCup. He ranks eighth on the EuroLeague’s all-time blocks list (144) and third on the EuroCup’s (60). Despite not playing the EuroCup since 2009, Javtokas is still the competition’s 10th-best rebounder (397). Javtokas has a good chance to finish his career with his ninth Lithuanian League title; he previously lifted the trophy with Rytas in 2000, 2002 and 2006, and every year with Zalgiris since 2012. He also won the 2002 NEBL and the 2006 Baltic League titles with Rytas, as well as the Greek League and the Greek Cup with Panathinaikos to complete a triple crown in 2007. Javtokas was a regular member of the Lithuanian national team, eventually becoming its captain. He helped Lithuania win four medals: silver at EuroBasket 2013 and EuroBasket 2015, as well bronzes at EuroBasket 2007 and the 2010 FIBA World Cup.