The 24-year-old enjoyed a career night in Round 11
Deividas Sirvydis doing his talking on the court for Zalgiris
Article
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 11 of 34
Group Regular Season
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He might not take too many headlines away from superstar teammate Lonnie Walker, but the role played by Deividas Sirvydis in Zalgiris Kaunas’s thrilling 84-77 victory over Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens on Friday night should not be underestimated.
The 24-year-old guard was his team’s second-highest scorer, showcasing his shooting skills by netting a career-best 19 points after an initial flurry of long-range bombs in the first quarter. Sirvydis finished with 5 three-point strikes on 8 attempts, and has now netted from deep in four consecutive games as well as striking multiple three-balls in six games so far this season.
Although recruitments from overseas might grab more attention, the summer signing of Sirvydis underlines – as if anyone needs reminding – that Lithuanian basketball also has a great depth of talent for Zalgiris to mine.
Sirvydis has taken an indirect and winding route to the top tier of European basketball. After first springing to prominence as a teenager with Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius, winning the Adidas Next Generation Tournament MVP award in 2018, he joined Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem before trying his luck in the United States, making 23 NBA appearances with the Detroit Pistons and spending time in the G League.
But his career wasn’t really taking off across the pond, so Sirvydis returned to Lithuania in 2023, joining 7Bet-Lietkabelis Panevezys. An upturn in playing time allowed his talent to flourish, and he was named in the 2023-24 All-EuroCup Second Team after leading the competition in scoring with 18.9 points per game.
The past summer saw Zalgiris come calling, with Sirvydis now starting to consistently show the qualities that have always been easily evident ever since his teenage breakthrough.
Along with the scoring skills on display in Friday’s win over Panathinaikos, Sirvydis showed that he can also play hard by grabbing 7 rebounds – a career high and game high alongside visiting bruisers Mathias Lessort and Juancho Hernangomez. And the fact that he spent more than 22 minutes on the floor – the fourth most out of all Zalgiris players – shows that coach Andrea Trinchieri is already entrusting him with a leadership role.
That’s understandable because, considering the experience he has already gathered, Sirvydis can be regarded as a veteran even at the age of 24.
Most of his talking was done on the court, with Sirvydis restricting himself to a handful of pithy observations when he was interviewed by EuroLeague TV after the game.
His three-point shooting? “I just felt good…wide open, shooting threes. That’s my job.”
His rebounding? “Before he game our gameplan was to control the rebounds and that helped us a lot.”
The pregame preparations? “Three days of practices. We had a lot of time to prepare and it helped us a lot to get ready for the game and develop.”
He might be more fun to watch on the floor than in front of the microphone, but that’s perfectly fine… Zalgiris’s Silent Sniper Sirvydis is quickly becoming a major force.