Ausrine Sabonyte is the beautiful sister of Domantas Sabonis, a Lithuanian NBA player who plays power forward for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Before getting into the NBA, Domantas played college basketball for the Gonzaga Bulldogs at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.
The news says that Ausrine’s brother, who just joined the Oklahoma City Thunder as a rookie, is getting better as we watch. Without a doubt, he is working very hard to become a top athlete, and he is getting there very quickly. He is definitely becoming a very good athlete.
That’s not a big surprise. His grandfather is retired basketball center Arvydas Sabonis, who played for the Portland Blazers from 1986 to 2005.
Who is Ausrine Sabonyte, Domantas Sabonis’s sister?
Ausrine Sabonyte, who is 19 years old, is the youngest and only daughter of Arvydas Sabonien and Ingrid Mikelionyt Sabonien. She is also the first beauty queen and actor from Lithuania.
Domantas and Zygimantas, the two youngest men in Sabonis’s family, and her three brothers were all born in Portland. Her mother was only 18 years old when she won the Miss Lithuania pageant in 1988. In 1990, Ingrid married Arvydas, who was 7’3″ tall, at the city hall.
Ausrine, who is 6 feet tall, left Lithuania when she was done with high school. She went to Spain and then London, where she is now studying business management at the University of Westminster.
10 Interesting Facts About Ausrine Sabonyte
- Domantas’s first game was for Unicaja Malaga against Cibona Zagreb in 2012. He is a brother of Ausrine. At the time, he was only 16 years old. After that, he played for the Clinical Rincon for more than a year.
- She was the first Lithuanian beauty queen and the youngest and only daughter of Arvydas and Ingrid Mikelionyt Sabonien’s four children.
- Domantas Sabonis’s whole family, including his sister Ausrine and his mother Ingrida, who was the first “Miss Lithuania” in 1988, is likely to go to his All-Star weekend basketball game.
- Her father was a businessman from Lithuania who was also a professional basketball player. He won the Mr. Europa Award twice and the Eurostar Award six times. This makes him one of the best players in Europe. He played in the Spanish ACB League, the National Basketball Association, and other leagues for seven years (NBA).
- At the FIBA U-16 European Championship in 2012, her brother Domantas Sabonis played for the Lithuania U-16 National Team for the first time outside of Lithuania. Sabonis played for Lithuania at the 2013 FIBA U-18 European Championship. He scored 14 points while he was still under the age of 17.
- Ausrine left Lithuania after she graduated from high school. She went to Spain and then to London, where she is now going to school to study business management at the University of Westminster.
- In 1982, when the senior Soviet Union national basketball team came to the U.S., her father Sabonis was one of the players who played against college teams. Even though he was told to take a break and not play in the 1988 Summer Olympics, the Soviets let Sabonis keep playing for their national team.
- Her mother was only 18 years old when she won the Miss Lithuania pageant in 1988. In 1990, Ingrid married Arvydas, who was 7’3″ tall, at the city hall.
- Even though she was born in Portland and her family was from Kaunas, Lithuania, she lived there for most of her childhood.
- Her father, Arvydas, won an Olympic medal and was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011. Since October 2011, he has also been the president of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation.
Early years
Domantas was born on May 3, 1996, in Portland, Oregon, while his father, Arvydas Sabonis, was playing for the Portland Trail Blazers. He is the youngest son of Arvydas. He has two older brothers, ygis (1991) and Tautvydas (1992), and a younger sister, Aurin (1997). When Arvydas was asked if any of his sons would play basketball like him, he pointed out Domantas because he is stubborn and left-handed.
When Arvydas stopped playing basketball in 2003/2004, he and his family moved from Portland to Malaga, Spain.
Going to college
Sabonis turned down Unicaja’s offer of a $630,000 contract for three years so he could play in the NCAA. Before the 2014–15 season, he signed with NCAA Division I team Gonzaga University. On November 14, 2014, he made a strong debut by scoring 14 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, dishing out 2 assists, stealing 1 ball, and blocking 1 shot in 20 minutes. On February 3, 2015, he was named West Coast Conference Player of the Week after averaging 13 points and 11 rebounds per 26 minutes. The Gonzaga Bulldogs beat the BYU Cougars 91–75 on March 10, and they won the WCC Tournament Title for the third time in a row. Sabonis was one of the best players in the game. He scored 15 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. During March Madness, he scored 18 points and grabbed 9 rebounds to lead Gonzaga to the Sweet 16. Gonzaga beat UCLA to make it to the Elite Eight. This is Gonzaga’s first regional final with Mark Few as head coach and their second overall. During that game, Sabonis scored 12 points and got 8 rebounds. The season ended with a loss to future champions Duke, and Sabonis was named to the NCAA Tournament South Regional All-Tournament team.[19] In his first NCAA season, Sabonis averaged 9.7 points and led Gonzaga in field-goal percentage (66.8%) and rebounds (7.1).
Few told ESPN on April 4 that Sabonis planned to come back to Gonzaga for his sophomore year and that Sabonis had never really thought about entering the 2015 NBA draft.
The second year (2015–2016)
ESPN ranked Sabonis 20th among NCAA players for the 2015–16 season and called him “one of the best and edgiest rebounders in the country” on August 13, 2015.
Domantas Sabonis of Gonzaga is the hardest worker on the court. The sophomore forward is a walking double-double, which could get him a spot on the third team of All-Americans.
Sabonis started his second NCAA season with a career-high 26 points (FG: 12/13, FT: 2/2), and he also grabbed 7 rebounds in a 91–52 win over Northern Arizona. On December 19, Sabonis scored 36 points (FG: 12/16, FT: 12/15), and he also grabbed 16 rebounds. His team won 86–79. Mark Few, the head coach of the Zags, said that he had never seen a Zag score like that. Two days later, Sabonis beat another career high by giving out 6 assists. He also scored 23 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and helped Gonzaga beat the Pepperdine Waves 99-73. On January 2, 2016, he came close to breaking his scoring record with 35 points. He also had 14 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks in a thrilling come-from-behind win in overtime against the San Francisco Dons, 102–94. On January 9, Sabonis broke his rebounds record again by grabbing 17 rebounds. He also had 28 points, 3 steals, 3 blocks, and 4 assists, and his team won 85–74. After the game, Mark Few, the head coach of the Bulldogs, said, “Sabonis, none of us can take for granted the kind of year he is having. It’s amazing how consistent he is.” On January 21, he almost had a triple-double. He scored 17 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and gave out 7 assists, which was a career high. Two days later, Sabonis got 20 rebounds, scored 12 points, and helped out two other players. This was a new career high for him. He was one of 35 people put on the Naismith Trophy midseason watch list on February 11. Sabonis was named to the First-team All-WCC on March 1, and two days later, he was named a CoSIDA Academic All-American.
Sabonis played in his second March Madness game on March 17. Even though he had the flu, he helped his team beat the Seton Hall Pirates 68-52 and move on to the Round of 32. He scored 21 points, grabbed 16 rebounds, and gave 4 assists. On March 19, he had 19 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals to help his team beat the third-seeded Utah Utes 82–59 and move on to the Sweet 16 stage. He also held one of the best prospects, Jakob Poltl, who was his direct opponent, to 5 points and 4 rebounds. After that, Sabonis was the best post-up player left in the NCAA tournament. On March 25, he had another monster game with 19 points, 17 rebounds (7 offensive), and 5 blocks, but the Syracuse Orange stopped his run by beating them 60–63 in the final seconds of the game. In his second season in the NCAA, Sabonis almost doubled every statistic he had in his first season. During March Madness, he averaged 19.6 points, 14.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 3.3 blocks. On March 29, Sabonis was named to the CBS College Basketball All-America Third Team, along with Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram, Jamal Murray, and Yogi Ferrell.[44] Sabonis was also one of the finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award.
Several U.S. news outlets said in early April 2016 that Sabonis would hire an agent and declare himself eligible for the 2016 NBA draft. This would end his career at Gonzaga. On April 20, he signed with Jason Ranne and Greg Lawrence of Wasserman Media Group to represent him in the NBA draft. [47] Before the draft, Sabonis turned down the chance to take part in the NBA Draft Combine. Instead, he worked out with the Phoenix Suns, the Toronto Raptors, the Boston Celtics, and the Utah Jazz four times before the draft.
Work as a professional
Sabonis made his debut for Unicaja Málaga on September 5, 2012, against Cibona Zagreb. He was only 16 years old at the time. He was then loaned to Clnicas Rincón for the 2012–13 season. He went back to Málaga for the 2013–14 season. On October 13, 2013, he made his debut in the Liga ACB, becoming the youngest Unicaja player to do so at 17 years, 5 months, and 10 days. On October 18, he made his EuroLeague debut against Olympiacos Piraeus. In February 2014, he was one of the top 10 candidates for 2013 FIBA Europe Young Men’s Player of the Year. On May 3, he had his best game in the ACB. He scored 13 points and made every shot he took. Sabonis helped Unicaja’s junior team win the silver medal in the Spain Youth Basketball League on May 10. In the final game, he scored 14 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. In January 2015, he finished in the top 5 for the 2014 FIBA Europe Young Men’s Player of the Year Award. In order to stay in the NCAA, he never signed a professional contract that paid him while he was with Unicaja.