Lithuanian National Team might be without all of their NBA stars and some other crucial players in the upcoming EuroBasket. All of that because of the actions of the assistant coach of the National team. What the hell is happening is Lithuanian basketball? A THREAD

Jonas Valančiūnas has been named Lithuanian basketball player of the year for a record-breaking 7th time. Domantas Sabonis didn't even make it to Top3 of the voting. Rokas Jokubaitis was second, Matas Buzelis came third.

Matas Buzelis tied Jonas Valančiūnas for most 3PM in an NBA game by a Lithuanian player (7).

Former Denver Nuggets assistant GM Tomas Balčėtis officially joined EuroLeague organisation Žalgiris Kaunas. He will help develop and improve a new player analysis tool for Tesonet, which is a part owner of Žalgiris. Balčėtis spent the last 12 years in Denver.

Žalgiris plans to collect €9.5M from tickets which would be €1M more than record-breaking last season. Žalgiris sold out 21 consecutive EuroLeague games.

Žalgiris Kaunas budget over the years (expenses): 2013-14: €4.3M 2014-15: €6.2M 2015-16: €7.4M 2016-17: €8.3M 2017-18: €8.5M 2018-19: €10.7M 2019-20: €11.9M 2020-21: €9.1M 2021-22: €10.5M 2022-23: €13.1M 2023-24: €15M 2024-25: €17.7M 2025-26: €21.7M (expected)

Valanciunas on his trip to Denver: “It’s quite far but you can do it quick these days. I don’t think there’s any issues with that. I can't join the (National) team from the beginning (July 14) according to the NBA insurance rules. I think I will have time for everything.”

Valanciunas on his situation in Denver: “When the trade is over, we will make a plan. They will express their wishes, how they think, how they see it... Medical (examination), other details. It depends on the team.”

Jonas Valanciunas on what team he’ll play for next season: “We will only know when the first game of the next season happens. Everything will be clear.”

Heat is going to take care of him. Finally a Lithuanian in Miami after Zydrunas Ilgauskas who played his last career season there.

Despite the huge mess, Balčiūnas, president of the LKF, does not see a problem and defends Pačėsas. "We fully trust the coaching staff," he said today. (16/16)

Thousands of Lithuanian basketball fans are expressing their dissatisfaction with Pačėsas and the LKF, signing petitions and calling for the team's assistant coach to be fired. Many of them no longer want to travel to support the team in Finland. (15/16)

Domantas Sabonis will also most likely not play in EuroBasket 2025, but for different reasons, as he will have his third child. However, behind the scenes, there are rumors that there may be even more players who could reject invitations to the National Team. (14/16)

Although Buzelis is committed to representing Lithuania, he has yet to play in an official match, so if he were to receive an invitation from Team USA and accepted it, Lithuania would lose its' greatest talent. (13/16)

Matas Buzelis, who is very close to JV and calls him "uncle", also reacted to Pačėsas' statements. Buzelis was planning to debut for Lithuania this summer, but began to hesitate. "Now I'm not sure if I will come this summer. We have problems with the coaches", he said. (12/16)

Despite causing a huge scandal, Pačėsas still has not apologized or contacted Valančiūnas personally. (11/16)

Valančiūnas also criticized the team's manager Linas Kleiza, who then traveled to the States to talk to Lithuanian stars playing in the NBA. However, the trip was unavailling, as Kleiza did not get any promises regarding the EuroBasket 2025. (10/16)

The offended Valančiūnas publicly responded to Pačėsas, whom he does not even know personally: "It hurts me because I go to the National Team and play for it. This is my honor, my contribution, my pride - to play for the flag, to play for the three letters - LTU." (9/16)

Pačėsas recalled Valančiūnas' statement about not playing for Lithuania anymore. He also said that Valančiūnas always arrives after hunting, overweight, with a cigarette in his mouth. He added that Laurynas Birutis is no worse than our NBA centers (Valančiūnas & Sabonis). (8/16)

Everything went smooth in the first few months. The National Team won 4 games and booked their ticket to the EuroBasket 2025. It was smooth until March, when Pačėsas decided to publicly criticise Valančiūnas in one of the podcasts. (7/16)

Pačėsas is influential in Lithuanian basketball. Without his help, Balčiūnas would probably not have won the LKF elections. Pačėsas and Balčiūnas may also have complicated financial ties dating back to 2018. (6/16)