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After a long journey from the US, Emmanuel Mudiay, 191 cm, 25, arrived in Kaunas on Tuesday afternoon. The defender, who spent five seasons in the NBA, became the last purchase of the Kaunas club “Žalgiris”.
Upon arrival in Lithuania, Mudiay immediately inspected the Žalgiris Arena. After a brief relationship, the defender, who spent the last season without a club and longed for basketball, shared his first impressions with “Žalgiris Insider”.
“I would say that everything came to light a few days ago. I spoke to the coach and he asked me: “What do you promise to do?” So I decided to make a decision. Before that, I spent time negotiating with NBA clubs. After a year off, he just wanted to get back to basketball. I wanted to challenge myself and get back on the field, ”said Mudiay.
The acquaintance of the defender and the head coach of “Žalgiris” Martin Schiller started in 2019-2020. The season when a Congolese-born American player played for the Utah Jazz Club and Schiller worked for the Salt Lake City Stars, a subsidiary of Utah Jazz.
It was a well-known professional who helped Mudiay make a quicker decision about a future stop in his career outside of the NBA.
“Frankly, I have heard wonderful things about the organization. Another very motivating factor in choosing Žalgiris’ offer is my relationship with the coach. A few years ago, he worked in Utah with the G League team and I played for the Jazz Club in the NBA League.
He has participated in several of our club’s trainings. Anyway, it had a big impact on my decision because I knew him perfectly as a human being. I know how he developed as a coach and I know many NBA basketball players he worked with, ”the player recalled.
After graduating from school in 2014, Mudiay took an unconventional path and began her professional career with the South Tigers in Guagdong, China. Later, there were games at the Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks and Jazz clubs. Now the player is eager to meet the challenge with “Žalgiris”, whose fans have already had the opportunity to meet in online videos.
“Frankly, the local fans were another reason I decided to come here. I’ve heard many times that the best fans in Europe are probably living here. When I decided to choose where to play next, I said it would be that place.
When you have that kind of support from the fans and they build a strong back, you discover more motivation and you don’t want to disappoint them. He wants to keep working and improving. So it was an important factor that influenced my decision. They sent me a video clip where I saw this arena full of people. I saw how crazy the local fans are. I said: “I want to play here,” said the new resident of Žalgiris.
The composition of “Žalgiris”:
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