New York Knicks rookie Ignas Brazdeikis, currently a Canadian citizen, has officially applied for the restoration of his Lithuanian citizenship, according to 15min’s Donatas Urbonas.
According to Urbonas, the final word on whether or not Brazdeikis’s citizenship will be restored is up to the president of Lithuania, Gitanas Nauseda. If he chooses to do so, Brazdeikis may join the Lithuanian national team as they attempt to qualify for the Olympics this June on home soil.
Brazdeikis was born in Lithuania and wishes to play for the Lithuanian basketball team, but he currently has Canadian citizenship, meaning that — due to the Lithuanian Constitution, which states that no person may be a citizen of Lithuania and another country or state at the same time (save in special cases) — he has had to apply for restoration.
The Olympic qualifying tournament in Lithuania will take place in Kaunas, and if the hometown national team (led by a familiar face to Toronto Raptors fans in Jonas Valanciunas) wants to progress to Tokyo, they will have to first emerge from Group A (Venezuela, Korea), and then defeat the winner of Group B (Poland, Slovenia, Angola).
The 21-year-old has only played nine games with the lowly Knicks this season, and is averaging 5.9 minutes per contest. He’s spent the majority of his rookie campaign down in the G League with New York’s affiliate, the Westchester Knicks, where he’s averaged 19.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists on 48.1 per cent shooting.
[relatedlinks]
