Jasikevicius joining Zalgiris would reflect grim reality

Zalgiris Kaunas wasn’t viewed seriously when it came to Sarunas Jasikevicius joining his childhood dream team. As improbable and unlikely as it seemed at first, such a possibility does exist. However, nothing really relies on the club for the deal to come through - Saras is the one with the power to choose but that's only if there's anything to choose from.

It was the Greek media who reported that Jasikevicius was considering an option to return to his hometown Kaunas. The player has an offer on the table and some kind of talks are under way.

“A point guard of his quality would really come in handy for us. We’ve talked with Sarunas about  the possibility to play in Zalgiris but there are many different details in negotiationing with a player of this caliber and good intentions are not always enough,” said Paulius Motiejunas, the club’s General Director.

The 34-year-old point guard is currently training individually and preparing for the new season on his own. According to sources it was the Panathinaikos head coach Zeljko Obradovic whose decision ended Saras’ playing days in Athens.

However, other reports claim that the whole of the management was fed up with Jasikevicius being out-of-form throughout the year and decided that it was time for the player to move on and continue playing elsewhere.

Jasikevicius’ primary option was always going to be returning to Barcelona where he made his name as one of the best playmakers in the game of basketball. That said, there is no way that Saras could hope for a place in the club’s rotation given his poor form and recent injury history. 

Despite being linked with another of his former teams – Maccabi Tel Aviv, the player isn’t likely to be joining the Israeli club for the same reasons.

The idea of Jasikevicius coming to Zalgiris can only be viewed as a indicator about where the player’s career has taken a turn to and that now it’s the name that could attract the interest from a bigger club rather than what the player has still got in the tank.

If there aren’t any unexpectedly big offers from other clubs, the chances to see Sarunas Jasikevicius playing for his childhood dream team at the age of 34 are more likely to happen than you could have thought at first.

Simonas Baranauskas is the senior writer for LithuaniaBasketball.com. You can follow him on twitter at @LithuaniaBasket. Information from kaunodiena.lt was used in the article.