Back in 2017, 7bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys forward Gabas Maldunas quit his pro career to work at a bank but soon realized that "basketball is my life".
9-to-5 bank job gave Gabas Maldunas of Lietkabelis a new perspective
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Basketball players can have plenty of reasons – such as a serious injury or a new-born child – to get a new perspective on the game. 7bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys forward Gabas Maldunas got his new outlook from a day job at a bank.
Maldunas, playing in his fourth BKT EuroCup season with his hometown club, is fulfilling a childhood dream. But it almost never happened.
In the summer of 2017, Maldunas finished his second season in the Spanish second division having averaged 5.2 points and 3.7 rebounds with Palencia. His first two pro seasons had not gone quite as he had planned.
"I had a big decision to make. Since I graduated from Dartmouth College in 2015 I gave myself a couple of years to see how professional basketball plays out. I had two decent years in the Spanish second division. But they weren't great or anything like that," said Maldunas, who spent four years at Dartmouth after three years in U.S. high schools.
Having graduated from Dartmouth with a degree in economics, Maldunas now thought it was time to switch careers.
"I decided that in order to have a good life, I wanted to change something. I decided to quit basketball. I didn't think I would make enough money to keep playing so I thought I should start my other career," he said.
Maldunas received an offer to work at the Nordea Bank in Vilnius, and he took it.
"Another factor was that I had been nine years away from home, and I really wanted to get back to Lithuania," he explained. "I thought I wouldn't be able to get a contract in the [Lithuanian League], so I decided to take the offer from the bank."
Maldunas, who had been an intern with the same bank a year before, transitioned comfortably to his 9-to-5 bank job, wearing a suit and using his degree.
"The job was a normal job, nothing special. But it was nice for me because I had an economics degree from Dartmouth. So it was right up my alley," he said. "It was in the economics department so it wasn't anything new to me. I was doing research about some companies and see if it was good for the bank to invest in them. It was nice but it was a lot different than basketball."
Maldunas still worked out at the gym – but not doing basketball activities. And he didn't even think about returning to the game until his agent called him to say a top-flight Lithuanian team – Nevezis Kedainiai – was interested in him.
"It was my childhood dream to play in the [Lithuanian League] and I never got to experience that and then I really wanted to do it. And the salary was better than in a bank. So I thought maybe I should try it," said Maldunas, who was 24 years old at the time.
He talked to the bank manager, who understood Maldunas's feelings and allowed him to leave without any trouble after five weeks on the job.
"I really don't regret making that decision to quit basketball for a bit and go to work in a bank because it gave me a different perspective on life and what I really want," he said. "Sometimes it is very good to let something go to see if you really miss it. That means you gotta get it back. That was the case for me. I learned that basketball is my life and I would like to stay in basketball. I definitely don't have any regrets."
Maldunas' first season at Nevezis saw the team play in the FIBA Europe Cup and it showed him he could at least hold his own on the international stage.
After another season there, Lietkabelis came calling and that meant truly coming home – and seeing a dream come true.
"I signed with Lietkabelis, which was my childhood dream. Me and my friends used to go to the games at the arena. Of course, this Lietkabelis team is a lot better than it was when we were kids. So it's even more special now," he said. "It's also been my childhood dream to play with this team in European competitions."
And that may have never happened had Maldunas not decided to temporarily quit the game to work at a bank.