Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Zydrunas Ilgauskas is a Lithuanian professional basketball player currently signed as a center for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was born in Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR, USSR on June 5, 1975.

Ilgauskas started his professional basketball career with Atletas Kaunas of the Lithuanian Basketball League. He declared for the 1996 NBA Draft and was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round as the 20th overall pick. Ilgauskas' overseas basketball experience immediately proved useful as he made the starting five and contributed 13.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in all 82 games he played, starting all but one.

Ilgauskas became an NBA All-Star for the first time in 2003, when he averaged 15.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and became a dominant force in the defensive end of the court with 2.5 blocks per game. He was named to his second NBA All-Star game in 2005.

In 2010, Ilgauskas signed with the Miami Heat, joining his former Cavaliers teammate Lebron James, along with two other superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Pro Career

Ilgauskas made his pro debut in his hometown of Kaunas with the Atletas Basketball Club. He averaged 20.3 points, 12.8 rebounds and 2.8 blocks.

Ilgauskas was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 20th pick of the 1996 NBA Draft.

He suffered through myriad foot injuries early in his career. He spent the entire 1996-97 season on the injured list due to a broken bone in his right foot.

Despite being selected to the All-Rookie First Team in 1997-98 and signing a contract extension in 1998 that was worth 70.9 million over 6 years, Ilgauskas played only in 5 games over the next two seasons. On January 26, 2000, he had a surgery on a fractured navicular bone in his left foot.

He remained the starting center for the Cavaliers in 2000-01. However, he was injured again in December 2000 and was out for the season. The injury dealt a blow to the Cavaliers. After winning 15 out of 23 games with Ilgauskas, they finished with a 30-52 record.

He returned in December 2001 and was mostly used as a backup to Chris Mihm for the rest of the season.

Ilgauskas averaged 17.2 points and 7.5 rebounds in 2002-03. He was selected as an All-Star, but the Cavaliers finished with the third-worst record in team history (17-65) and landed the number one draft pick.

The Cavaliers drafted high school phenomenon and future NBA MVP LeBron James in 2003. James teamed up with Ilgauskas and Drew Gooden to form the core of the team. Ilgauskas only missed 9 games over the next three seasons and was selected as an All-Star again in 2005.

On July 12, 2005, Ilgauskas signed a contract extension with the Cavaliers. The deal was reportedly worth over 55 million over 5 years.

For the next four seasons, Ilgauskas was the starting center for the team, which had turned into a contender. They reached the NBA Finals in 2007 and the Eastern Conference Finals in 2009. However, in the summer 2009, the Cavaliers acquired Shaquille O'Neal. When asked about the trade, Ilgauskas responded: "I was just reading the news. That means I'll probably be coming off the bench." On December 2, 2009, Ilgauskas came off the bench in a game against Phoenix Suns to break the team record for career games played.


Washington Wizards

On February 17, 2010, Ilgauskas, along with a 2010 first round pick and the rights to Emir Preldzic, were traded from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Washington Wizards as part of a three-team, six-player trade that also sent Antawn Jamison from Washington to Cleveland, Al Thornton from the Los Angeles Clippers to Washington, Drew Gooden from Washington to Los Angeles, and Sebastian Telfair from Los Angeles to Cleveland.

Ilgauskas married his wife, Jennifer, during the summer of 2004. In the summer of 2009, Ilgauskas adopted two Lithuanian brothers (aged five and four at the time) from his hometown of Kaunas.

Ilgauskas wanted to play for Lithuania national team in the 2008 Summer Olympics. The Cavaliers did not permit him to play due to his injury history.