Quick Facts
Biography
Mindaugas Kuzminskas (born 19 October 1989) is a Lithuanian professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also represents the Lithuanian national team. Standing at 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in), he plays at the small forward position.
Professional career
Europe
Kuzminskas started his basketball career in 2006 with Sakalai Vilnius where he played for one season. For the 2007–08 season, he moved to Perlas VIlnius. In the summer of 2008, he signed with Šiauliai.
In September 2009, Kuzminskas signed with Žalgiris Kaunas, but he stayed one more season on loan with Šiauliai. In 2010, he joined Žalgiris and stayed with the team for three seasons.
In June 2013, Kuzminskas signed a contract with the Spanish team Unicaja Málaga. On 22 October 2015, Kuzminskas scored his Euroleague career-high 23 points and led his team to triumph versus the Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C 93–82 in Tel Aviv. Then on 13 November, Kuzminskas played his most efficient Euroleague game of 30 PIR points (22 points (2FG: 6/7, 3FG: 3/5, FT: 1/1), 4 rebounds, 3 steals) and led Unicaja to another outstanding away-game victory, this time against CSKA Moscow, winning 86–78. In 36 league games for Unicaja in 2015–16, he averaged 10.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.
NBA
On 9 July 2016, Kuzminskas signed with the New York Knicks. On 25 October 2016, he made his debut for the Knicks in their season opener, scoring seven points in nine minutes off the bench in a 117–88 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. On 12 January 2017, he scored a season-high 19 points in a 104–89 win over the Chicago Bulls.
Career statistics
| Legend | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game | ||
| FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage | ||
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game | ||
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | PIR | Performance Index Rating | ||
| Bold | Career high | ||||||
Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.
Euroleague
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | PIR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–11 | Žalgiris | 8 | 1 | 6.8 | .357 | .167 | .667 | 1.0 | .1 | .3 | .0 | 1.6 | 1.3 |
| 2011–12 | 12 | 0 | 8.4 | .555 | .143 | .706 | 1.3 | .2 | .2 | .0 | 2.8 | 2.8 | |
| 2012–13 | 23 | 5 | 14.1 | .527 | .324 | .829 | 3.1 | .3 | .5 | .2 | 7.1 | 7.7 | |
| 2013–14 | Unicaja | 24 | 16 | 14.2 | .472 | .314 | .633 | 2.3 | .5 | .5 | .3 | 6.3 | 5.6 |
| 2014–15 | 24 | 20 | 21.8 | .450 | .275 | .813 | 4.5 | 1.5 | .9 | .4 | 10.0 | 12.5 | |
| 2015–16 | 23 | 20 | 21.3 | .486 | .377 | .827 | 3.4 | 1.0 | .6 | .3 | 12.0 | 11.6 | |
| Career | 114 | 62 | 16.1 | .479 | .316 | .783 | 3.0 | .7 | .6 | .2 | 7.7 | 8.1 |
NBA
Regular season
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–17 | New York | 68 | 5 | 14.9 | .429 | .321 | .809 | 1.9 | 1.0 | .4 | .2 | 6.3 |
| Career | 68 | 5 | 14.9 | .429 | .321 | .809 | 1.9 | 1.0 | .4 | .2 | 6.3 |
Personal life
Both of Kuzminskas's parents were professional athletes – his father, Vladas, played table tennis, while his mother, Zita, was a professional basketball player. He also has an older brother, Saulius, who was also a professional basketball player between 1999 and 2015.