Magic Ex Ignas Brazdeikis Signs With Hometown Team: Details
ORLANDO - After three years in the NBA, former Orlando Magic wing Ignas Brazdeikis has found a new basketball home.
Luckily for Brazdeikis, the more things change ... the more they stay the same.
Brazdeikis, 23, is leaving the NBA to sign with Zalgiris Kaunas, the most decorated club of the Lithuanian Basketball League.
Brazdeikis was born in Kaunas, Lithuania before emigrating to the United States when he was young. Eventually, Brazdeikis and his family settled in Oakville, Ontario, Canada, where he spent most of his youth.
He played one year at the University of Michigan before he was drafted in 2019 by the Sacramento Kings. Brazdeikis was traded on draft night to the New York Knicks.
Brazdeikis shuttled back and forth between the Knicks and their G League affiliate before being traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, who waived him after one game.
At the end of the 2020-21 season, the Magic signed him to a 10-day contract to finish off the season. In eight games, Brazdeikis averaged 11.1 points per game, which helped reward him with a two-way contract for the 2021-22 season.
Last season, Brazdeikis appeared in 42 games with the Magic, averaging five points per game.
Now, after not receiving an offer from any team in free agency, Brazdeikis is heading to Europe where his entire journey began in Kaunas.
Before Zalgiris Kaunas' season begins, Brazdeikis will compete with the Lithuanian national team alongside Kings All-Star Domantas Sabonis and Memphis Grizzlies center Jonas Valanciunas in EuroBasket 2022 this September.
