Mantas Kalnietis returns to his boyhood team after signing a two-year deal with Zalgiris Kaunas, the club announced on Monday. Kalnietis (1.95 meters, 34 years old) has played parts of nine seasons with Zalgiris's senior team, including 104 games in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. He helped the club win the Lithuanian League, Lithuanian Cup and Baltic League four times each. He last played for Zalgiris in the first half of the 2015-16 season.
Kalnietis arrives from Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar, for which he averaged 8.7 points and a EuroCup leading 7.1 assists per game in 18 appearances last season. At the end of the season, he was named to the All-EuroCup Second Team. Kalnietis has also played for AX Armani Exchange Milan in Italy and LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne in France. He has captured league championships in both Italy and France plus two Italian Cups. Kalnietis also won the EuroCup in 2013 with Lokomotiv and is a two-time EuroBasket and World Cup medallist with the Lithuanian national team.
