Fenerbahce’s Sarunas Jasikevicius has been named the 2024–25 Aleksander Gomelskiy Coach of the Year, marking a historic milestone for Lithuanian basketball.
Jasikevicius is the first coach from Lithuania to receive the award, which is voted on by fellow EuroLeague head coaches.
He guided Fenerbahce to a 23–11 regular-season record and a second-place finish, despite a season filled with injuries to key players.
Star guard Scottie Wilbekin tore his ACL less than three minutes into the season opener, while Wade Baldwin, Devon Hall, and Dyshawn Pierre all missed extended stretches.
Only Nigel Hayes-Davis, Bonzie Colson, and Nicolo Melli managed to appear in every regular-season game.
The club still managed to tie for the most road wins in the league (11) and recorded multiple six-game win streaks under Jasikevicius’ leadership.
Key away victories at Virtus Bologna and Olympiacos proved vital in securing the team’s strong regular-season standing.
Mid-season additions such as Errick McCollum and Jilson Bango helped stabilize the rotation as injuries mounted.
Jasikevicius edged Olympiacos’ Georgios Bartzokas for the top coaching honor, while Bayern’s Gordon Herbert and Paris’ Tiago Splitter shared third in the voting.
Other coaches receiving votes included Luca Banchi (Anadolu Efes), Joan Penarroya (Barcelona), and Zeljko Obradovic (Partizan).
By winning the Gomelskiy Trophy, Jasikevicius also becomes the first person in EuroLeague history to win the competition as a player and later be named its Coach of the Year.
The 49-year-old won four EuroLeague championships as a player and was named Final Four MVP in 2005 with Maccabi Tel Aviv.
He joins an exclusive list of 13 coaches to have earned the Gomelskiy honor since it was first awarded.
Only five others—Zeljko Obradovic, Georgios Bartzokas, Ettore Messina, Pablo Laso, and Dimitris Itoudis—have won it more than once.
The award is named after Aleksander Gomelskiy, who led ASK Riga to the first EuroLeague title in 1958 and coached the Soviet Union to Olympic gold in 1988.
Looking ahead, Jasikevicius has the opportunity to become just the fourth individual to win the EuroLeague both as a player and a head coach.
He would join Lolo Sainz, Armenak Alachachian, and Svetislav Pesic in accomplishing that rare feat.
