Coming off its best season ever, Neptunas Klaipeda enters its Turkish Airlines Euroleague debut with great hopes and ambition. Neptunas made its Eurocup debut in the 2013-14 season, but despite prestigious wins against Panionios Athens, Besiktas Integral Forex Istanbul and Spartak St. Petersburg, the team did not reach the Last 32. Neptunas did not make it to the VTB League playoffs either, but shined bright in the Lithuanian League. Led by Martynas Mazeika, Valdas Vasylius and Vytautas Sarakauskas, Neptunas ousted Prienai in the semifinals to reach the finals for the first time. Zalgiris Kaunas prevailed 4-2, but Neptunas proved it is on its way up as a club. Nestled against the Baltic Sea in western Lithuania, Klaipeda may be a new Euroleague destination, but is home to one of the oldest basketball clubs in the basketball-crazy country. Founded in 1962 as BC Maistas, it changed its name to Neptunas two years later and has kept it for almost five decades. The team quickly found success in regional competitions, since Lithuania was still part of the Soviet Union. Neptunas won the Lithuanian Zalgiris Association championship in 1966 and found more success once the club decided to change its signing policy, allowing players that finished their studies in Vilnius and Kaunas. The team won the Lithuanian Spartakiada two years later and the Soviet Union's trade unions championship in 1983. It competed in the top Lithuanian regional league throughout the bulk of the 1980s, but went down to the second division in 1988. When Lithuania became an independent country and put together its first national league, however, Neptunas was one of the eight teams chosen to be in its first division. Eugenijus Milkontas, who coached the team from 1983 through 1993, was its most visible face in those years. Neptunas did not do well when the Lithuanian League first started, but managed to slowly improve over the years, reaching the quarterfinals eight times from 1996 to 2003. Neptunas made its European competitions debut in 1998-99 and reached the Korac Cup elimination rounds before losing against Darussafaka of Turkey. Svajunas Airosis and Arunas Seferis were its main stars that season. Neptunas played the 1999-00 Korac Cup and managed a third-place regular season finish in the 2000-01 Lithuanian League, but Alita stopped the club in the quarterfinals. Neptunas finally reached the Lithuanian League semifinals in 2004-05 and also finished fifth in the Baltic League. Neptunas returned to the Lithuanian League semifinals in 2007 and 2009, and fans in Klaipeda have seen players like Eurelijus Zukauskas, Arvydas Macijauskas and Donatas Zavackas before they were well-known in continental basketball. In the 2012-13 season, Neptunas managed to finish third in the Lithuanian League after downing Prienai in the third-place playoffs, and made its VTB League debut, which took the club to a whole new level. Neptunas keeps growing, backed by great fans in Lithuania’s third-largest city, and its first Euroleague appearance is a giant step forwards for the club. The goal now is to carry on growing and to make this first appearance a regular occurrence.