Arnas Velička (born 10 December 1999) is a Lithuanian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for

Löwen Braunschweig Löwen, literally meaning "lions", may refer to: Music *Lowen (band), an English heavy metal band from London Places *Leuven or , the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium *Lewin Brzeski or ...

of the

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the German basketball league system, highest level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in German ...

Professional career

In 2015, after solid performance in

FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship The FIBA U16 EuroBasket is the new name for the FIBA U16 European Championship, originally known as the FIBA European Championship for Cadets. It's a men's youth basketball competition that was inaugurated with the 1971 edition. Through the 20 ...

he signed with Žalgiris-2 Kaunas. In his first season with the team, Velička reached the finals where they lost to Sūduva Marijampolė and won silver medals. Velička averaged 4.7 points and 1.7 assists in 14.3 minutes per game. In January 2016, Velička played for Žalgiris Kaunas youth in Adidas Next Generation Tournament which was held in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

. Velička and Isaiah Hartenstein helped the team to win and qualify for the

final stage Final stage or The Final Stage may refer to: * '' The Final Stage'', 1995 film directed by Frank Howson * Fifth stage of a bill's passage through a legislative chamber * In a multi-stage tournament: ** knockout stage ** playoffs The playoffs, p ...

of the tournament where his team finished third in Group A and didn't qualify for the final game. He was selected to an All-Tournament Team, averaging 14.7 points, 8.0 assists and 4.4 rebounds in 30 minutes in 7 games of both tournaments. On 3 July 2016, Velička signed with

FC Barcelona B FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

LEB Oro The Primera FEB, formerly known as LEB or LEB Oro, is the second basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system after the Liga ACB. It is run by the Spanish Basketball Federation, FEB. The FEB leagues are divided into three categorie ...

. From 7 to 10 September he participated in the

Basketball Without Borders Basketball Without Borders is a basketball instructional camp organized by the NBA in conjunction with FIBA. It presents itself as a “basketball development and community outreach program that unites young basketball players to promote the sport ...

camp in

Lohja Lohja (; ) is a town in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Lohja is situated in the western part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Lohja is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, munici ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and was named as the Overall Camp Most Valuable Player. On 3 February 2017, Velička was loaned to Lietkabelis Panevėžys of the

Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...

until the end of the 2017–18 season. After the 2017–18 season, Velička returned to Žalgiris Kaunas and was loaned to

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

of the Estonian Basketball League for the 2018–19 season. On 23 June 2020, Velička signed with Champagne Châlons-Reims of the

LNB Pro A LNB may refer to: Sport * Liga Nacional de Baloncesto, a professional basketball league in the Dominican Republic * Liga Nacional de Básquetbol, an Argentine basketball league * Liga Nacional de Básquetbol (Paraguay), Liga Nacional de Básquetb ...

. He left the club after reaching a mutual agreement to terminate the contract on 8 February 2021, and then signed with

of the

(BBL) for the remainder of the 2020–21 season. After going undrafted in the 2021 NBA draft, Velička joined the Boston Celtics for the

2021 NBA Summer League The 2021 NBA Summer League was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus of University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The summer league c ...

. On August 20, 2021, he signed in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

with

Napoli Basket Napoli Basket may refer to: * Napoli Basket (2016), professional basketball team * S.S. Basket Napoli (1946-2009), professional basketball team * Partenope Napoli Basket, amateur basketball team {{Disambiguation ...

, just promoted to the

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

. On August 11, 2022, he signed with

Niners Chemnitz Niners Chemnitz e.V., also named Chemnitz 99, is a German basketball club based in Chemnitz, Saxony. Currently, the team plays in the Basketball Bundesliga. Since its foundation in 1999, the team has played in Germany's lower divisions but mov ...

of the

(BBL). On July 26, 2023, he came back to Lithuania and signed with Lithuanian Basketball League runners-up Rytas Vilnius. Despite winning the Lithuanian Basketball League with Rytas Vilnius, the remaining season of the 1+1 contract was mutually terminated in July 2024. On August 1, 2024, he signed with

of the

National team career

Velička debuted for the junior national team of Lithuania in the

2015 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship The 2015 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship was the 29th edition of the European Under-16 Basketball Championship. 16 teams participated in the competition, held in Kaunas, Lithuania in two venues ( Arvydas Sabonis Basketball Centre and the legenda ...

. He averaged 10.8 points, 4.4 assists per 22.7 minutes of action. His team won silver medals. He was selected to the All-Tournament Team. After leading his Lithuanian Under-17 team to bronze medals in

2016 FIBA Under-17 World Championship The 2016 FIBA Under-17 World Championship (Spanish: 2016 FIBA Campeonato Mundial Sub-17) was the 4th edition of the FIBA Under-17 World Championship, the biennial international men's youth basketball championship contested by the U17 national tea ...

, he was named to the All-Tournament Team, averaging 12.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and a tournament high 4.7 assists per game. Same year Velička was also invited to compete in the

2016 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship The 2016 FIBA U18 European Championship was the 33rd edition of the FIBA U18 European Championship. The competition was originally scheduled to take place in Samsun, Turkey, from 30 July to 7 August 2016, but was postponed indefinitely due to th ...

. He not only was one of the silver medals winning national team leaders with 11 points, 3 rebounds and 5.7 assists, but also was the tournament leader in assists. His game-winning three-point shot at the buzzer in the quarter-final against the Russian U18 National Team was named as the top play of the tournament.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Velicka, Arnas 1999 births Living people Basketball Löwen Braunschweig players Basketball players from Kaunas BC Lietkabelis players BC Žalgiris players BC Žalgiris-2 players Champagne Basket players FC Barcelona Bàsquet B players Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Estonia Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in France Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Germany Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Italy Lithuanian expatriate basketball people in Spain Lithuanian men's basketball players 21st-century Lithuanian sportsmen Napoli Basket (2016) players Niners Chemnitz players Point guards Shooting guards University of Tartu basketball team players