The plans of the national team are changing: they will fly to Puerto Rico directly from Europe / News

The general secretary of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation (LKF) Mindaugas Balčiūnas told that Jonas Valančiūnas is being banned for this summer and presented the changed plan of the national team to prepare for the Olympic selection.

On April 12, Balčiūnas, who is traveling to the USA, will meet in Sacramento with the two towers of the Lithuanian national team, Domantas Sabonis and Valančiūnas.

The latter’s future in the NBA is unclear, as his contract with the New Orleans Pelicans expires in the summer. As a result, Valančiūnas may need insurance to play in the national team.

“The main issue is the ban on Valančiūnas,” said Balčiūnas. – From our side, we have to prepare for all cases: if Jonas is contracted, if he is not contracted and so on.

One of the main goals of the visit is to tell John that there won’t be any problems. There is no question about finances, we will resolve all issues so that Jonas can calmly concentrate only on basketball victories.”

Balčiūnas also announced that LKF’s plan to play friendly matches across the Atlantic and thus acclimatize in another continent did not work out.

It is planned that the national team will play a match against the University of Arizona represented by Motiejas Krivos and Pauliaus Murauskas. Since this will not happen, Lithuanians on June 25 will travel directly to Puerto Rico after the match against Slovenia.

“The NCAA organization did not give permission for Arizona to play with the Lithuanian national team. The main argument is that students do not compete with professionals. First, permission was obtained from FIBA ​​Secretary General Andreas Zagklis, then permission from the USA Basketball Federation. All that was left was the NCAA, but we didn’t get that.

Preparations are being adjusted a little, we consulted with coach Maksvytis, whether they need another (friendly) match. Earlier we communicated that the match is very commercially useful for LKF, we agreed to receive 100 thousand for it. US dollars and a chartered flight from Arizona directly to the city of San Juan. It didn’t happen that way, but we overdid it. Coach Kazys Maksvytis did not emphasize the great necessity of this match, so we will fly directly to Puerto Rico after the match against the Slovenians,” said Balčiūnas.

LKF tried to get out of the situation and offered to play a friendly match for the Canadians, who already have a guaranteed place in the Olympic Games. However, a negative answer was received here as well.

“Canada begins training on June 27, right after the NBA draft. If it was at least a day earlier, it would have suited us, but it doesn’t suit them, so we won’t play. Toronto was really looking forward to this match just because of Jonas Valančiūnas, Ignos Brazdeikis. It would have been a great celebration, but it didn’t work out,” said Balčiūnas.

Also, the general secretary of the LKF assured that one of the goals of the trip is to strengthen the relationship with basketball players from abroad.

“There are other important issues that we will deal with, such as meetings with expatriates. As you have seen, many young basketball players from the USA and the United Kingdom are now visiting Lithuania. Relations with expatriates must be strengthened. We can see how much help we can get, recent years have shown: Ignas Brazdeikis, Matas Buzelis, daughter of Aurimas Matulevičius and other players. I would say that this is one of the steps of strategic globalization. The US is a strong partner in this matter.

We will also meet with representatives of the US national team regarding the offer to play with the youth national teams in some tournaments. There will be many meaningful and important meetings that should help develop the activities of the LKF”, said Balčiūnas.

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