Barcelona hires Lithuanian basketball legend Jasikevicius

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - Spanish basketball club Barcelona named Lithuanian basketball legend Sarunas Jasikevicius their new head coach on Thursday.

"Sarunas Jasikevicius will coach @FCBbasket for the next three seasons," Barcelona said on Twitter.

It added that his contract runs through June 30, 2023.

On Wednesday Barca ended Svetislav Pesic's contract over his losing this year's Spanish ACB Endesa League title to KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Jasikevicius, 44, spent four seasons at Barcelona.

During his playing career, Jasikevicius helped win four Turkish Airlines EuroLeague titles (with Barcelona in 2003, Israeli team Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv in 2004 and 2005, and Greek club Panathinaikos OPAP Athens in 2009).

In addition, Jasikevicius won the 2003 FIBA European Championship – EuroBasket 2003 – with the Lithuanian national team in Sweden.

Jasikevicius also played for Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahce Beko in 2011, when it won both the Turkish Super Lig title and Turkish Cup.

Jasikevicius retired from basketball in 2014 to start his coaching career.

After first appointing him assistant coach, in 2016 Lithuania’s Zalgiris Kaunas made him head coach.

In the EuroLeague, Jasikevicius led Zalgiris Kaunas to reach the 2018 Final Four, coming in third in the tournament.