Arvydas Sabonis (born December 19, 1964 in Kaunas) is a former professional basketball player from Lithuania. The 2.20 m (7 ft 3 in) Sabonis is considered by many to be one of the top centers in the world from the 1980s through the early 21st century. Sabonis' earliest international success was a bronze for the Soviet Union at the European Championship of 1983, followed by a gold in 1985 at both the European Championship and the World University Games. In 1984, Sabonis joined Žalgiris Kaunas and led them to three consecutive Soviet league titles.
In the 1985 NBA Draft he was a fourth round draft pick of the Atlanta Hawks but this was later nullified because of his age (he was under 21). In the 1986 NBA Draft he was the Portland Trail Blazers' first pick (24th overall), but again he couldn't play for them due to the political circumstances at the time. Although the political climate in the Soviet Union did not allow Sabonis to play in the NBA, he did travel to the U.S. to rehabilitate his ankle injuries with the Blazers' training staff. In between rehab stints, "Sabas" would find himself out on the court playing pickup games with Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter and others. Observers strongly contend even to this day, that had Sabonis played for the Blazers in the early 1990s, they would likely have won an NBA championship.
He won the gold medal for the Soviet Union in the 1988 Summer Olympics, and played for Lithuania when they won bronze at the 1992 Summer Olympics, and were runners-up in the 1995 European Championships.
In 1989 he was allowed to leave the Soviet Union but he didn't go to the NBA and instead chose Forum Valladolid, and Real Madrid in 1992, whom he led to league championships in 1993 and 1994 and to the European Club Championship in 1995. He was named European Player of the Year four times.
In 1995, he finally joined the NBA with the Trail Blazers, and won Rookie of the Month and Player of the Week awards in 1996. He was later runner-up for both the Rookie of the Year and Sixth Man awards. He remained with Portland for seven years, playing in 470 regular season and 51 playoff matches with them and often leading the team in rebounds. He was a very effective player in the NBA, but his career there had considerable "what-might-have-been" overtones. Had he joined the Blazers when they were at their peak in the early 1990s, many Portland fans feel it would have been a dynasty. During his years in Europe, he suffered a series of knee and Achilles' tendon injuries that robbed him of most of his mobility.
In 2003, Sabonis returned to Lithuania and bought a major stake in his old club Žalgiris. He also played for Žalgiris in the 2003-04 season, winning the MVP award in both the regular-season and Top 16 phases of the Euroleague and being named to the All-Euroleague team. He retired as a player after the 2004-05 season.
His wife, Ingrida MikelionytÄ— Saboniene, was the winner of the first Lithuanian beauty pageant, "The Beauty of Vilnius 88". They have four children. Sabonis speaks five languages: Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, and English.
Ex-players and current players alike contend that Sabonis, fairly unknown in the U.S., would have been recognized as one of the top centers ever to play the game of basketball had he come to America in his prime. Scottie Pippen was quoted as saying that Arvydas was "the best European basketball player to ever play the game". Ex-Spur Sean Elliott routinely claimed that Arvydas "should be in the conversation as one of the greatest centers ever". Hall of Famer Bill Walton describes "Sabas" as "the greatest passing center of all time". And Dino Radja, a former Boston Celtics player, said that Sabonis would have been an all-star "ten times over" had he played his healthy years in the States.
Brian Meehan, a columnist for The Oregonian, followed Sabonis' career over the course of decades. Recalling the 1988 Olympics, when Sabonis' Soviet team beat a United States team with the likes of David Robinson, Meehan notes one play when a healthy Sabonis reacted to a teammate's missed shot: Sabonis slashed towards the rim, jumped over Robinson, and slammed the ball home. Meehan is of the opinion that it was the play of Arvydas in the '88 Olympics that influenced Team USA to use professional players in the olympics, thus the "Dream Teams" of 1992 and 1996. Meehan ranks Sabonis as the 6th best all-time center behind, in no particular order, Hakeem Olajuwon, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kareem Abdul-Jabaar.
