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Barcelona's Jakucionis can't wait to go home for ANGT Finals

Barcelona's Jakucionis can't wait to go home for ANGT Finals

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8 March 20234 Mins read

Barcelona's Jakucionis can't wait to go home for ANGT Finals

Reaching the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Finals means just a bit more to U18 FC Barcelona guard Kasparas Jakucionis. Not only does it mean playing against the best on the continent, but the ANGT Zadar MVP will be going home, too.

Jakucionis stood out all tournament in Croatia last weekend and helped carry Barcelona back to the ANGT Finals, where it hopes to claim a second U18 continental crown following its 2016 success.

"It's very important. We have worked the whole season for this. We were practicing hard every day and we were thinking about this tournament," said Jakucionis, who had 16 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in Barcelona's 54-81 win over fellow Spanish side U18 Casademont Zaragoza in the first-place game.

For the tournament, Jakucionis averaged 19.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.0 steals for a PIR of 25.0 to earn the event's highest honor.

"We worked the whole season for this."

Taking first place sends Barcelona to Kaunas, Lithuania, for the ANGT Finals, which will take place from May 18 to 21, in parallel to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four. As such, the victory in Zadar is sending Jakucionis back home.

"That was my motivation in this tournament. Because I knew if we win this tournament we are going to my country. I look forward to seeing my family and friends there," said Jakucionis, who hails from Vilnius.

The 16-year-old left Lithuania prior to the 2021-22 season. After receiving a good number of offers, he choose Barcelona.

"I decided to go to Barcelona because I liked the environment, the practice and everything. And I have improved. I really love Barcelona," he said.

Jakucionis said he talked shortly with Barcelona's Lithuanian coach and point guard duo Saras Jasikivicius and Rokas Jokubaitis.

"I talked to them but not a lot," he said. "I like them a lot. But they did not have a big impact for me going there."

When asked what he likes most about Barcelona, Jakucionis highlighted the team chemistry:

"All the coaches and players have good chemistry. They are cheering for each other. You can talk to each other like a friend, whether it's the first coach, assistant coach or physio. You can talk about everything with them."

Barcelona's head coach Roger Grimau is very impressed with Jakucionis.

"He is one of the most professional players I have ever seen and he is only 16. He is so mature," said Grimau, who played 170 games over nine EuroLeague seasons - eight of them with Barcelona, with whom he won the 2003 EuroLeague title.

Neither Grimau nor Barcelona fans should be surprised that Jakucionis helped the team win the tournament. He did, after all, help Lithuania win the title at the FIBA U16 European Championship 2022.

"He is one of the most professional players I have ever seen."

Roger GrimauHead coach

"That was amazing. Right from the start we really had good chemistry - just like in Barcelona. I feel the same energy," said Jakucionis, who averaged 9.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.4 steals in that tournament.

Jakucionis had already played his first season with Barcelona ahead of the U16 continental tournament and Lithuania faced off with Spain in the final. And he came up with his best game of the tournament with 15 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals.

"Playing against Spain, I had a lot of motivation to show them that Lithuania was not bad in basketball and that we can beat them," he said. "And we did, and it was amazing."

Next up for Jakucionis is a return home to Lithuania where he hopes to show the rest of the competition that Barcelona is not bad at basketball, either.