Domantas Sabonis got knocked around.
A lot.
He was 15 years old the first time Unicaja Malaga, the club for which he played basketball in Spain, elevated him to practice with its first team, a EuroLeague club with a roster of grown-up pros.
Two years later, Sabonis was on its regular roster. In daily practices then, he was treated on the low block like any adult would be.
“They don't care,” Sabonis said, smiling as he flashed back to being battered in the post by teammates, some a decade his senior. “And they're not nice to rookies, either.