By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
AS Monaco has reached an agreement with center Donatas Motiejunas over a new two-year contract. Motiejunas (2.13 meters, 32 years old) is set to start his third season with Monaco, which he helped win the French league and cup double and reach the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four last season.
In 38 EuroLeague games in the 2022-23 campaign, the Lithuanian big man averaged 9.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and a 10.0 PIR.
Born in Kaunas, Lithuania, Motiejunas joined Zalgiris Kaunas’s youth program at a young age. He led Zalgiris to the 2007 ANGT title in Athens, Greece, averaging 17.7 points and 7.5 rebounds in four games to earn tournament MVP honors. He had 20 points and nine rebounds in the championship game against FMP.
Motiejunas made his EuroLeague debut with Zalgiris in the 2007-08 season. He also played for Aisciai Kaunas of Lithuania and Benetton Treviso of Italy before returning to the EuroLeague with Polish side Asseco Prokom Gdynia. He averaged 12.5 points in 10 EuroLeague games with Prokom in the 2011-12 campaign, ranking second in rebounds (7.9 rpg.). Motiejunas set a record for most defensive rebounds in a EuroLeague game, grabbing 18 with Prokom against Union Olimpija Ljubljana on December 7, 2011 – a record that still stands to this day.
Motiejunas also played for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the G League, the Houston Rockets and the New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA, as well as the Shandong Golden Stars, the Shanghai Sharks and the Xinjiang Flying Tigers in China before joining Monaco in 2021.
He was chosen as the 2010-11 EuroCup Rising Star, averaging 10.9 points and 5.6 rebounds in 16 games with Treviso. Motiejunas helped Zalgiris win the Lithuanian League and the Baltic League titles in 2008, while he also lifted the Polish League trophy with Prokom in 2012.
He has been a member of the Lithuanian national team, helping it get a silver medal at the 2013 EuroBasket tournament. Motiejunas also collected respective silver medals in 2008 at the U18 and U20 European Championship. In 92 EuroLeague games with Zalgiris, Prokom and Monaco, Motiejunas has averaged 9.2 points and 4.5 rebounds.