Zalgiris Kaunas legend and the EuroLeague's all-time leader in rebounds and games played, Paulius Jankunas, will remain with his hometown team for another season after signing a deal for the 2021-22 campaign. Jankunas (2.05 meters, 37 years old) debuted with Zalgiris in 2003 and has played for the club in all but one season since. In that time, he has been party to all of Zalgiris's greatest triumphs and collected a series of personal accolades, too.
Jankunas leads the career EuroLeague standings with 1,965 rebounds and 375 games played. His place atop those tables is safe for now with the closest active players trailing him by 499 rebounds (Kyle Hines) and 35 games played (Georgios Printezis). Jankunas is also ranked third in performance index rating (3,993), fifth in both free throws made (738) and two-pointers made (998), sixth in scoring (3,178 points) and 14th in steals (241). Last season he averaged 3.9 points and 4.4 rebounds in 34 EuroLeague games.
He was a driving force behind Zalgiris reaching the Final Four in 2018 when he earned All-EuroLeague honors and was EuroLeague MVP for December. Jankunas has also helped Zalgiris to 15 Lithuanian League championships and nine Lithuanian Cups. As a long-time member of the Lithuanian national team, Jankunas won a bronze medal at the Basketball World Cup in 2010, a silver medal at EuroBasket 2015 and a bronze at EuroBasket 2007.