By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Rytas officially added Arturas Gudaitis on Wednesday evening.
The Vilnius-based club confirmed the reunion with the experienced center following a home win against Manisa in Gameday 3 of the Basketball Champions League Round of 16. After sidelining 22-year-old forward Ązuolas Tubelis indefinitely, the ensuing search for a suitable replacement ended in the form of Gudaitis.
The Klaipeda native previously played for Lietuvos Rytas between 2015 and 2017, following his introduction to the top-tier division of Lithuania with Zalgiris. He logged 14 appearances in the 7DAYS EuroCup before upping his Turkish Airlines EuroLeague tally to 173 games played through spells with AX Armani Exchange Milan, Zenit, and Panathinaikos from 2017 to 2023. Back to Rytas, he is set to debut in the BCL.
Shortly before moving from Zalgiris to Rytas, Gudaitis was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 47th overall pick of the 2015 NBA draft but has not played in the league based in North America.
Coming off a stint in Japan with Alvark Tokyo, the 31-year-old center now meets the team coached by Giedrius Zibenas at 2-1 in Group J of the 2024-25 edition of the Champions League, tied with defending champion Unicaja and Galatasaray ahead of winless Manisa at the midway point of the six-game schedule. The first and second seeds advance to the Quarterfinals, with the top-ranked team earning homecourt advantage in a best-of-three series for a berth in the championship-crowning Final Four.
In the Betsafe LKL Regular Season, a 16-3 record places the reigning champions in Lithuania one game behind leading Zalgiris.