Background and career
Arvydas Romas Sabonis (Lithuanian pronunciation: [ˈaːrviːdaːs ˈsaːboːnʲɪs]; born 19 December 1964) is a Lithuanian former professional basketball player. Sabonis won the Euroscar six times and the Mr. Europa Award twice. He played in a variety of leagues, including the Spanish ACB League, and spent seven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Playing the center position, Sabonis won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics, in South Korea, for the Soviet Union, and later earned bronze medals at the 1992 Olympic Games and 1996 Olympic Games representing Lithuania. He retired from professional basketball in 2005. Sabonis was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the 1986 NBA draft, but he did not play his first NBA game until 1995, at the age of 30. On 20 August 2010, Sabonis was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in recognition of his great play in international competition. On 4 April 2011, Sabonis was named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and he was inducted on 12 August 2011. On 24 October 2011, Sabonis was voted as the next President of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation, replacing Vladas Garastas, who had led the LBF since 1991. He resigned from the position on 2 October 2013, but he came back to it on 10 October 2013. His son, Domantas Sabonis, plays for the NBA's Sacramento Kings as of 2026.
Sabonis was born in Kaunas, and began playing basketball at age 13. By the time he was 15 years old, he was a member of the Soviet national junior team. Sabonis was excused from mandatory service to the Soviet Army, by enrolling at the Lithuanian University of Agriculture, in his hometown.
Sabonis made his professional club debut in 1981, with one of the oldest basketball teams in Lithuania, Žalgiris, in his hometown of Kaunas. With the club, he won three consecutive Soviet Premier League titles, and the 1986 FIBA Club World Cup (FIBA Intercontinental Cup).
In 1989, Sabonis left Žalgiris, and signed with the Spanish Liga ACB club Fórum Valladolid. During the 1991–92 season, Sabonis helped the team to reach the semifinals at the Korać Cup.
In 1992, after playing with Fórum Valladolid for three seasons, Sabonis joined the Spanish club Real Madrid, and with them, he won two Spanish League titles, and a FIBA European League (EuroLeague) title, in 1994–95. With Real Madrid, during the 1994–95 Spanish League season, he averaged 22.9 points, 12.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.6 steals, and 2.3 blocked shots, in 42 games played. While in the 1994–95 FIBA European League season, he averaged 21.8 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.8 steals per game, in 17 games played. While a member of Real, Sabonis was twice voted the FIBA European League Player of the Year, in 1993 and 1995, and he was also voted the FIBA European League Final Four MVP, in 1995.
Sabonis was originally selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the 77th overall pick of the 1985 NBA draft. However, the selection was voided because Sabonis was under 21 at the time of the draft. The following spring, he suffered a devastating Achilles' tendon injury. Nevertheless, he was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers, with the 24th overall pick of the 1986 NBA draft. As of 2025, Sabonis would be the last player to be selected in multiple NBA drafts, since the process of players entering multiple draft years would be abolished after the 1980s. Sabonis was not allowed to play in the US by the Soviet authorities, despite an offer from LSU Tigers head coach Dale Brown to have Sabonis play at Louisiana State University, thus preserving his amateur status for Olympic competition. However, Sabonis did go to Portland, to rehabilitate his injury with the Blazers medical staff, in 1988, while also practicing with the team. After the 1994–95 European season, Sabonis and Portland contacted one another about a move to the NBA. Before signing Sabonis, Portland's then-general manager, Bob Whitsitt, asked the Blazers team physician to look at Sabonis' X-rays. Illustrating the impact of Sabonis' numerous injuries, Whitsitt recalled in a 2011 interview, that when the doctor reported the results, "He said that Arvydas could qualify for a handicapped parking spot, based on the X-ray alone." Nevertheless, the Blazers signed Sabonis. He had a successful rookie campaign, averaging 14.5 points, on 55% shooting, and 8.1 rebounds per game while playing less than 24 minutes per game. Sabonis was selected to the All-Rookie First Team and was runner-up in both Rookie of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year voting. His postseason averages went up to 23.6 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. In the first playoff series of his NBA career, Portland lost to Utah in five games. Sabonis averaged 16.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game in 1997–98, all career-highs. During Sabonis's first stint in Portland, the Blazers made the playoffs every year (as part of the team's 21-year postseason streak). After six consecutive first round losses, Portland changed large parts of its roster between 1998 and 1999 in a bid to compete for the NBA Championship: Sabonis the only starter retained. Kenny Anderson and Isaiah Rider were traded for Damon Stoudamire and Steve Smith. In both those years, the Blazers reached the Western Conference Finals. In 1999, they were swept by the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs, and the next year a starting five of Sabonis, Smith, Stoudamire, Rasheed Wallace, and recently added Scottie Pippen lost to the Los Angeles Lakers (at the beginning of the team's three-peat) in seven games. The forever unanswered question about Sabonis' NBA career is how good he could have been had he played there during his prime. He was already 30 when he joined the Blazers, by which time he had already won multiple gold medals, suffered through numerous injuries, and had lost much of his mobility and athleticism. In Bill Simmons's "Book of Basketball", Sabonis the international player is idealized, while Sabonis the Blazer is described as "lumbering up and down the court in what looked to be concrete Nikes" and ranking "just behind Artis Gilmore on the Moving Like a Mummy Scale." According to ESPN's David Thorpe, Sabonis would have been the best passing big man in NBA history, and possibly a top-four center overall, had he played his entire career there. Teammate and basketball Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler felt the Trail Blazers would "have had four, five or six titles" had Sabonis been able to spend his prime in Portland next to the plethora All-Stars that included him, Terry Porter, Buck Williams, Steve Johnson, Kevin Duckworth, and Clifford Robinson.. "Guaranteed. He was that good. He could pass, shoot three pointers, had a great post game, and dominated the paint." Despite Sabonis' height and weight, he was, according to NBA.com's Erik Lyslo, "a magician in the post who played the game with a style I've never seen from a big man. He was a point guard in a center's body. And, just to be fair to Arvydas, he was better than most point guards are at distributing the ball." His age and injuries made him appear as a "big guy who looked like he couldn't make it up the court, but the same guy who made the defense look foolish with a pass that whizzed by their ear. It just goes to show you how smarts and court savvy will always age better than a guy with no brains and all athletic ability". On 6 April 2001, Sabonis scored a season-high 32 points while making 11 of 12 field goal attempts during a 122–91 win over the Golden State Warriors. After the 2000–2001 NBA season, Sabonis refused to sign an extension with the Trail Blazers and retired from the NBA. In his own words, he "was tired mentally and physically." Instead, he returned to Europe, where he signed a one-year deal, at a nominal salary, with Žalgiris Kaunas, expecting to join the team for the most important games of the season down the stretch. However, he ended up missing that season in its entirety, resting and recovering from injuries. Sabonis rejoined the Trail Blazers for one final season, in 2002–2003. He won the Euroscar twice while playing with the Blazers. He also became a fan favorite, and had a warm welcome back when he visited Portland in 2011, en route to being enshrined into the Naismith Hall of Fame.
