NEW YORK — Referee Gediminas Petraitis has made the call. He's becoming an American citizen.
The NBA official from Lithuania will be naturalized Tuesday in Maryland, where his road to the hardwood began when he swapped his Sports Authority uniform for a referee's one.
"The U.S. is a great country and any time you have the ability or the option to, it's something you cannot pass on, I believe," Petraitis said.
Born in 1989 in Kaunas — Lithuania's second-largest city — Petraitis first came to America in 1994. His parents were physicians who had moved to Maryland, and Petraitis and his sister came and visited during summers before returning to Lithuania for school.