Background and career
Domantas Sabonis (Lithuanian pronunciation: [ˈdoːmɐntɐs sɐˈboːnʲɪs]; born May 3, 1996) is a Lithuanian-American professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Lithuanian national team. Son of the Hall of Fame player Arvydas Sabonis, Sabonis is a two-time All-NBA Team member, three-time NBA All-Star, and has led the league in rebounds thrice. Sabonis started his career in Spain with Unicaja Málaga. He then moved to the United States and played college basketball for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. After being drafted 11th overall in the 2016 NBA draft by the Orlando Magic, Sabonis was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder on draft night, spending his rookie season with the team before being traded to the Indiana Pacers in 2017. He played five seasons for the Pacers and was named an All-Star twice during his tenure. In 2022, Sabonis was traded to the Sacramento Kings for Tyrese Haliburton. Named to his first All-NBA team and third All-Star selection in 2023, he led the Kings alongside De'Aaron Fox to the third seed in the 2023 NBA playoffs and helped them break their NBA record 16-season playoff drought.
Domantas was born on May 3, 1996, in Portland, Oregon, when his father, Arvydas Sabonis, was playing for the Portland Trail Blazers. His mother is Ingrida Mikelionytė, the first Miss Lithuania in 1988. He has two older brothers, Žygimantas (born 1991) and Tautvydas (born 1992), and a younger sister, Aušrinė (born 1997). When Arvydas was once asked if any of his sons will follow his footsteps in basketball, he singled out Domantas due to his stubbornness, and because he is left-handed. In 2004, Domantas' father retired from basketball, and the whole family moved from Portland to Málaga, Spain.
Sabonis declined a Unicaja Málaga offer of a three-year $630,000 contract in order to play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). He committed to NCAA Division I squad Gonzaga University prior to the 2014–15 season. On November 14, 2014, Sabonis debuted by scoring 14 points, grabbing eight rebounds, and dishing two assists, along with one steal and one block in 20 minutes. On February 3, 2015, after averaging 13 points and 11 rebounds per 26 minutes he was named West Coast Conference Player of the Week. After a stellar regular season with Gonzaga, Sabonis was named to the All-WCC Second team, as well as to the WCC All-Freshman team. On March 10, Gonzaga defeated BYU 91–75 and won the WCC tournament title for the third straight time. Sabonis was one of the best players in the game with 15 points and six rebounds. During March Madness, Sabonis led Gonzaga to the Sweet 16 with 18 points and nine rebounds. Gonzaga beat UCLA to make it to the Elite Eight, Gonzaga's first regional final with Mark Few as head coach and second overall. Sabonis scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds during that game. The season ended with a loss to the future champions Duke and Sabonis was named to the NCAA tournament South Regional All-Tournament team. In his first NCAA season, Sabonis averaged 9.7 points, along with Gonzaga team highs of 66.8% field-goal percentage and 7.1 rebounds. On April 4, Few told ESPN that Sabonis planned to return for his sophomore season at Gonzaga, adding that Sabonis never seriously considered declaring for the 2015 NBA draft.
On August 13, 2015, ESPN placed Sabonis 20th in its NCAA players rankings heading for the 2015–16 season, describing him as "one of the nation's best, and edgiest, rebounders".
Sabonis began his second NCAA season with an outstanding career-high performance of 26 points and he also added seven rebounds in a 91–52 win over Northern Arizona. On December 19, Sabonis set a new career high in points and rebounds, scoring 36 points and grabbing 16 rebounds as his team won 86–79 against Tennessee. The Gonzaga's head coach Mark Few said that he never had seen a monster line like that for a Gonzaga player. Two days later, Sabonis improved on another career high by dishing out six assists; he also scored 23 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and led Gonzaga to a 99–73 win over the Pepperdine. On January 2, 2016, he was just one point shy of his scoring record with 35 points; he also added 14 rebounds, four assists, and three blocks in an 102–94 overtime victory versus the San Francisco. On January 9, Sabonis once again improved his rebounds record by grabbing 17 rebounds, and adding 28 points, three steals, three blocks and four assists, his team won 85–74 over Portland. After the game, head coach Mark Few said: "Sabonis, none of us can take for granted the type of year he is having... Such consistency, it's amazing". On January 21, nearly posted a triple-double with 17 points, 13 rebounds, and a career-high seven assists in a 70–67 loss to Saint Mary's. Two days later, Sabonis grabbed a new career high of 20 rebounds, as well as 12 points and two assists in a 71–61 win over Pacific. He was named to the 35-man midseason watchlist for the Naismith Trophy on February 11. On March 1, he was included into the First-team All-WCC. Two days later, Sabonis received CoSIDA Academic All-American honors. On March 17, Sabonis began his second March Madness appearance by leading his team past the Seton Hall Pirates 68–52 to the Round of 32, scoring 21 points, grabbing 16 rebounds and making four assists, despite having a flu. On March 19, he helped his team to advance into the Sweet 16 stage with 19 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals, crushing the third-seeded Utah 82–59. Moreover, he limited his direct opponent and one of the top prospects Jakob Pöltl to just five points and four rebounds. Following it, Sabonis was the most efficient post-up player left in the NCAA tournament. Despite his yet another monster performance of 19 points, 17 rebounds (seven offensive) and five blocks on March 25, his journey was stopped by Syracuse during the final match moments, losing 63–60. In his second NCAA season Sabonis almost doubled his every single statistical line comparing with the previous season. During the March Madness, his averages were 19.6 points, 14.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 3.3 blocks. On March 29, Sabonis was named to the CBS College Basketball All-America Third-team, along with Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram, Jamal Murray and Yogi Ferrell. Sabonis also was one of the finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award. In early April 2016, several U.S. media reports indicated that Sabonis would declare himself eligible for the 2016 NBA draft and would hire an agent, marking the end of his career at Gonzaga. On April 20, he signed with Jason Ranne and Greg Lawrence of Wasserman Media Group for representation in the NBA draft. Prior to the draft, Sabonis rejected the offer to participate in NBA draft combine. Instead, he participated in four pre-draft workouts with the Phoenix Suns, Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics and Utah Jazz.
Despite being only a 16-year-old, on September 5, 2012, Sabonis debuted for Unicaja Málaga against Cibona Zagreb. He was later loaned to Clínicas Rincón for the 2012–13 season. He returned to Málaga for the 2013–14 season and debuted in the Liga ACB on October 13, 2013, becoming the youngest Unicaja player to debut in the ACB (17 years, 5 months and 10 days). On October 18, Sabonis debuted in the EuroLeague against Olympiacos Piraeus. In February 2014, he finished in the top 10 for the 2013 FIBA Europe Young Men's Player of the Year Award voting. His best ACB game came on May 3, when he scored 13 points on 100% shooting. On May 10, Sabonis helped Unicaja's junior team win the Spain Youth Basketball League silver medal. In the final game, he recorded 14 points and eight rebounds. In January 2015, he finished in the top 5 for the 2014 FIBA Europe Young Men's Player of the Year Award voting. During his time with Unicaja, he never signed a professional contract with salary in order to remain eligible for the NCAA.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
