Rolands Šmits (born June 25, 1995) is a Latvian 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 Anadolu Efes of the Turkish

Basketbol Süper Ligi The Basketball Super League (; TBSL), also known as the Türkiye Sigorta Basketbol Süper Ligi for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's professional basketball division of the Turkish basketball league system. It replaced the former Turkish Bas ...

and the

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

. At a height of , and a weight of 107 kg (235 lbs), he primarily plays at the

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

position, but can also play as small ball center.

Early career

Šmits came up through the junior youth ranks of the Latvian club BK Valmiera. He left his native Latvia, for Spain in 2011. He joined the Spanish club

Baloncesto Fuenlabrada Baloncesto Fuenlabrada, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., known as Flexicar Fuenlabrada because of sponsorship reasons, or just as Fuenlabrada, is a professional basketball team based in Fuenlabrada, Spain. The team plays in the Primera FEB and ...

, and played for their

feeder team In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful pl ...

in the

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

Spanish fourth-tier level Liga EBA, in the 2011–12 season.

Professional career

Šmits made his debut in the Spanish top-tier level

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

, with Fuenlabrada, during the 2012–13 season, while also seeing action for Grupo Eulen Carrefour El Bulevar de Ávila, in the country’s third-tier division LEB Plata, that same season. From 2013 to 2015, he primarily played for Fuenlabrada's

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

in LEB Plata sides Fundación Baloncesto Fuenlabrada and the affiliated team Viten Getafe respectively. But, he also earned increasing playing minutes in the top-tier level ACB. In the 2016–17 season, Šmits won the European-wide 2nd-tier level EuroCup's Rising Star Award, after shooting 55.1% from the field overall, 60.4% from 2 point field goal range, and 48.8% from 3 point field goal range, while averaging 9.4 points, 2.8 rebounds, 0.9 assists, and 0.6 steals per game, with Fuenlabrada during the EuroCup season. On 18 September 2017, Šmits signed a five-year contract with

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

, but stayed on loan at Fuenlabrada until the summer of 2018. On 30 June 2022, Šmits parted ways with Barcelona after his contract with the club expired. Over four seasons with Barça from 2018 to 2022, Šmits averaged 4.6 points and 2.8 rebounds in the

, along with 5.2 points and 2.6 rebounds in the

, mostly serving as a backup for Nikola Mirotić. On 3 July 2022, Šmits signed a two-year contract with Žalgiris Kaunas of the LKL and the

. On 25 May 2023, Šmits agreed on a three-year contract extension until 2026, with opt-out clauses after each season. On June 15, 2024, he signed with Anadolu Efes of the Turkish

International career

Šmits competed with Latvia's junior national teams at the 2011 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship, and at the 2012 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship and 2013 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship. He also played with Latvia's junior national team at the 2014 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship and at the 2015 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship.Rolands SMITS (LAT).
/ref> Šmits received his first

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

with the senior men's Latvian national basketball team in 2014. In 2017, Šmits competed with the Latvian national team at the

EuroBasket 2017 EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe and held between 31 August and 17 September 2017. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships take place every four years with a similar ...

tournament, averaging 5.6 points and 2.0 rebounds as the team finished 5th overall.

Awards and accomplishments

Club

;FC Barcelona *

: (

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

) * 3×

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

: (

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

) ;Žalgiris Kaunas * Lithuanian League: (

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

) * King Mindaugas Cup: (2023)

Individual

* EuroCup Rising Star: (

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

) * Spanish League All-Young Players Team: (

)

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="4",

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, 14 , , 0 , , 11.5 , , .389 , , .370 , , .909 , , 1.6 , , .5 , , .3 , , .2 , , 4.4 , , 3.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , 16 , , 10 , , 9.9 , , .442 , , .474 , , .750 , , 1.8 , , .3 , , .1 , , .1 , , 3.1 , , 2.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2020–21 , style="background:#CFECEC;", 41* , , 8 , , 15.9 , , .573 , , .396 , , .767 , , 3.2 , , .6 , , .4 , , .2 , , 5.5 , , 6.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , 36 , , 3 , , 14.8 , , .477 , , .196 , , .920 , , 3.1 , , .6 , , .4 , , .1 , , 4.4 , , 4.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2022–23 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2", Žalgiris , 37 , , 36 , , 23.3 , , .491 , , .383 , , .855 , , 4.7 , , 1.1 , , .4 , , .1 , , 9.7 , , 9.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , 31 , , 24 , , 22.9 , , .512 , , .375 , , .773 , , 4.3 , , 1.2 , , .6 , , .1 , , 10.5 , , 10.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 175 , , 81 , , 17.6 , , .500 , , .361 , , .824 , , 3.5 , , .8 , , .4 , , .1 , , 6.7 , , 6.7