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Wolves Twinsbet
Nickname	Vilkai
Leagues	LKL
Founded	2 June 2022; 22 months ago (2022-06-02)
History	BC Wolves (2022–2024) Wolves Twinsbet (2024–present)
Arena	Twinsbet Arena
Capacity	10,000
Location	Vilnius, Lithuania
Team colors
President	Rimantas Kaukėnas
Team manager	Algimantas Bružas
Head coach	Nedas Pacevičius
Team captain	Regimantas Miniotas
Ownership	Basketball Holding Company
Website	bcwolves.com
Home Away

Wolves Twinsbet is a Lithuanian professional basketball club based in the city of Vilnius. The team competes in the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) and internationally in the EuroCup. The team plays its home games at the 10,000–seat Twinsbet Arena.

History

The club was founded on 2 June 2022, with the name Wolves referring to the mythical Iron Wolf and the founding legend of the city of Vilnius. ^[1] The license of BC Dzūkija was used starting from the 2022–23 LKL season.

LKL league expanded to 12 teams again, and a second basketball club appeared in the capital after for more than a decade. Nevertheless, the club is viewed with skepticism by some Lithuanian basketball community. Some of them do not like the new club because it appeared in the top league based on monetary over playing principles, and others because of the club owner's alleged connection with the Russian business. Wolves claim its main objectives to be strengthening the Lithuanian basketball, attracting solid players, raising co-competition between the LKL clubs, and upholding ambitions to reach the level of an elite European basketball club. After only two years of existence, Wolves have reached a place in Europe's second-tier club tournament, the EuroCup, but this was also achieved through a monetary agreement rather than a game principle.

2022–23 season

On 5 July, Rimas Kurtinaitis was officially announced as the head coach of the club. On 6 July, Adas Juškevičius became the first player signed in the history of the club. Wolves also signed Lithuanian men's national basketball team players Eigirdas Žukauskas, Kristupas Žemaitis, solid LKL players like Regimantas Miniotas, Vitalijus Kozys, Arnas Beručka and longtime veteran, holder of multiple Lithuanian league records and former star of Rytas, Mindaugas Lukauskis, locally also known as the Iron man or the Legend. Marcos Delia became the first foreign player to sign contract with the team, soon after the next one was signed with Ahmad Caver. Signing of Juan Gomez de Liano caused quite a stir in the homeland, as well as in Lithuania; he became the first Filipino basketball player to officially represent a European basketball club.

Wolves started their first official game in the Lithuanian Basketball League with an away win over Nevėžis Kėdainiai 81:76. The club participated in the 2022–23 FIBA Europe Cup qualifying round, its first ever participation in a European competition. Wolves defeated the legendary Greek team Aris Thessaloniki 88:77 in the first round, but lost in the second round to Bulgarian champion BC Rilski Sportist 76:91, losing chance to qualify for the tournament. In the LKL, the club had struggles, but in large part due to the signings of Jeffery Taylor and Eric Buckner, they had risen to the standings. Wolves started a rivalry with BC Rytas, and also had competitive matches with long-time LKL champions and Euroleague participants BC Žalgiris - scoring wins over both teams in February and the beginning of March. Wolves also defeated Eurocup participants Lietkabelis Panevėžys in the regular season series, which helped them reach third place in the LKL standings. Ahmad Caver in particular shined, as he was named the LKL MVP of the regular season. Wolves also made late season signings, Rashard Kelly and Jerai Grant, to strengthen the team before the playoffs.

In the King Mindaugas Cup, Wolves had a solid run, but finished second in the qualifying round standings behind BC Neptūnas. The second place finish, however, meant that during the draw for the quarterfinals, Wolves drew BC Žalgiris. Žalgiris easily beat Wolves both in Alytus, 95:79, and in Kaunas, 91:72.

On March 28, 2023, in a shocking moment, Wolves fired head coach Rimas Kurtinaitis, along with assistant Aurimas Jasilionis. The firing came just after Wolves qualified for the ENBL final four. They hired Kęstutis Kemzūra to replace Kurtinaitis, also hiring Marius Leonavičius and Nedas Pocevičius as his new assistants.

The club also got their second chance in a European competition, participating in the 2022–23 European North Basketball League, which started in November 2022. Wolves became one of the best teams of the competition, defeating Budivelnyk Kiev in the quarterfinals, qualifying for the final four, while still under coach Kurtinaitis. Under coach Kemzūra, Wolves entered the final four as favorites. In the semifinals, they beat Wilki Morskie Szczecin 58:55. In the finals, despite being heavy favorites, Wolves blew a double-digit lead and suffered a heart-breaking loss, 66:70 to Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski, denying the team to win their first championship.

Entering the LKL playoffs, Wolves faced CBet Jonava. The club struggled against CBet during the regular season, winning only one of their matches. Before the start, Wolves were still thought of as series favorite. However, CBet defied expectations, winning against Wolves by 80:76 in an away series opener, and finishing off in Jonava by 80:75.

Due to the reconstruction of its Avia Solutions Group Arena, the team played some home games in Alytus Arena. Wolves drew big crowds and quickly became very popular within the city.

2023–24 season

On 24 May 2023, Jeffery Taylor renewed his contract with the club until 2025, with an option for an additional year. By joining the remaining core of the team: Adas Juškevičius, Eigirdas Žukauskas, Regimantas Miniotas, Kristupas Žemaitis, Vitalijus Kozys, Arnas Beručka.

On 17 August 2023, Jonas Valančiūnas joined the investors of the club. ^[2]

The start of the season on the local basketball front was excellent with 10 wins and 1 loss. Key rivals such as Rytas and Zalgiris were defeated in the first round of the LKL, the only defeat after two overtimes was suffered by the strong Lietkabelis club, which also plays in the EuroCup. In that match, the young Latvian basketball star Arturs Zagars, who was designed by one of the team's leaders, suffered a very serious leg injury, and the player may not play for the rest of the season. In the EuroCup tournament, the opponents did not promise such an easy walk, after the first round the club had four wins and the same number of losses. An amazing victory in Vilnius was achieved against Beşiktaş Emlakjet club, when the Wolves trailed 80–87 with 23 seconds left in the game, but celebrated the victory 90–88 at the final siren. In November, the team's fall into the pit of defeats began. Rasheed Sulaimon could not help the club due to an injury, due to the ongoing rehabilitation after Jeffery Taylor injury, other players also dropped out. The losing streak continued until the beginning of January, with 9 losses in a row. The club returned to winning ways by winning the LKL against BC Nevėžis , the Eurocup against KK Cedevita Olimpija.

On 21 January 2024 the club announced that it parted ways with the head coach Kęstutis Kemzūra who was replaced by the assistant coach Nedas Pacevičius. ^[3]

Honours

European North Basketball League

• Runners–up (1): ( 2023)

Players

Current roster

BC Wolves roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age G 1 Sulaimon, Rasheed 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 30 – (1994-03-09)9 March 1994 F/C 2 Mekowulu, Christian 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) 111 kg (245 lb) 29 – (1995-03-17)17 March 1995 PF 4 Brooks, Garrison 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 104 kg (229 lb) 24 – (1999-06-29)29 June 1999 F 6 Žukauskas, Eigirdas 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 104 kg (229 lb) 31 – (1992-06-03)3 June 1992 PG 8 Kariniauskas, Vaidas 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 92 kg (203 lb) 30 – (1993-11-16)16 November 1993 F/C 10 Miniotas, Regimantas (C) 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 105 kg (231 lb) 28 – (1996-03-14)14 March 1996 PG 13 Žemaitis, Kristupas 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 85 kg (187 lb) 27 – (1996-06-24)24 June 1996 F 15 Thurman, Tre'Shawn 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 102 kg (225 lb) 28 – (1995-12-15)15 December 1995 F 19 Kozys, Vitalijus 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 97 kg (214 lb) 24 – (1999-04-30)30 April 1999 G/F 21 Beručka, Arnas 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 91 kg (201 lb) 27 – (1997-03-17)17 March 1997 PG 32 Žagars, Artūrs  1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 78 kg (172 lb) 24 – (2000-04-21)21 April 2000 SF 44 Taylor, Jeffery 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 102 kg (225 lb) 34 – (1989-05-23)23 May 1989	Head coach Nedas Pacevičius Assistant coach(es) Marius Leonavičius Athletic trainer(s) Laimonas Rimkus Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: January 21, 2024

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2	Inactive
C	Christian Mekowulu	Garrison Brooks
PF	Eigirdas Žukauskas	Regimantas Miniotas	Vitalijus Kozys
SF	Tre'Shawn Thurman	Jeffery Taylor
SG	Rasheed Sulaimon	Arnas Beručka
PG	Kristupas Žemaitis	Vaidas Kariniauskas		Artūrs Žagars

Squad changes for/during 2023–24 season

In

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Moving from
21	C		Christian Mekowulu	Basket Zaragoza
15	SF		Tre'Shawn Thurman	Filou Oostende
14	C		Đorđe Gagić	Borac Čačak
1	G		Rasheed Sulaimon	Konyaspor
8	PG		Vaidas Kariniauskas	M Basket Mažeikiai
32	PG		Artūrs Žagars	Nevėžis Kėdainiai
55	C		Egidijus Mockevičius	Athletic Constanța
4	PF		Garrison Brooks	Wonju DB Promy

Out

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	Moving to
1	G		Juan Gómez de Liaño	Seoul SK Knights
27	SF		Tomas Pačėsas Jr.	Arka Gdynia
33	SG		Herkus Kumpys	Peñas Huesca
12	C		Marcos Delia	APU Udine
20	C		Eric Buckner	Free agent
2	C		Jerai Grant	Fuerza Regia
7	PG		Ahmad Caver	Hapoel Holon
8	SF		Mindaugas Lukauskis	Jurbarkas-Karys
11	PF		Rashard Kelly	Prometey
55	C		Egidijus Mockevičius	VL Pesaro
3	SG		Adas Juškevičius
41	C		Đorđe Gagić	Free agent
	HC		Kęstutis Kemzūra	Free agent

Season by season

Season	Tier	League	Pos.	Regional competitions	Pos.	KMT Cup	European competitions
2022–23	1	LKL	5th	ENBL	2nd	Quarterfinals	4 FIBA Europe Cup	QR2
2023–24	1	LKL				Quarterfinals	2 EuroCup	RS

Head coaches

References

External links

• Official website
• BC Wolves LKL profile
• Basketball Holding Company