Of the 113 international players who were on NBA rosters at the outset of the 2016-17 regular season, the New Orleans Pelicans have four, including Alexis Ajinca (France), Omer Asik (Turkey), Cheick Diallo (Mali) and Donatas Motiejunas (Lithuania). One of three active Lithuania-born NBA players, Motiejunas hails from a basketball-mad country that’s also home to Toronto’s Jonas Valanciunas and New York’s Mindaugas Kuzminskas (Oklahoma City’s Domantas Sabonis is listed on some websites as Lithuanian-born, but he was born in Portland, Ore., the son of all-time hoops great Arvydas Sabonis).
Motiejunas sat down with Pelicans.com to discuss some of what made his path to the NBA unique, having grown up and learned the game in Europe.