When he made his NBA debut in 2013 for the Toronto Raptors, Jonas Valanciunas became the ninth Lithuania-born player to appear in the world’s most prestigious basketball league. It’s a testament to how popular the sport is in the European nation (population 2.8 million) that four more Lithuanians have broken into the NBA since then, including former Pelicans forward Donatas Motiejunas.
In the first edition of the 2021-22 season of our “24 Seconds” Q&A series presented by Ibotta – which will appear weekly on Pelicans.com – the 29-year-old discussed his summer and how his home country impacted his affinity for basketball.