Rīgas Zeļļi sign Lithuanian basketball player Martynas Varnas
Rīgas Zeļļi have signed a one-season contract with 29-year-old Lithuanian forward Martynas Varnas, who missed the previous season due to injury but brings EuroCup experience and a background in the Žalgiris system.
Latvian basketball club Rīgas Zeļļi announced on Wednesday that they have signed Lithuanian player Martynas Varnas to a one-season deal. Varnas becomes the club's first foreign player for the upcoming season.
The 29-year-old Varnas primarily plays as a small forward but can also operate at shooting guard. He sat out the previous season due to a serious injury. The majority of his career has been spent in Lithuanian clubs, including Panevėžys Lietkabelis, Šiauliai, Prienai, Kėdainiai Nevežis, Pasvalys Pieno Žvaigždės, and Kaunas Žalgiris. Varnas grew up in the Žalgiris youth system and as a junior won bronze at the 2015 U-18 European Championship and silver at the 2016 U-20 European Championship.
Zeļļi will be Varnas's third foreign club. In 2023 he played for a team in Edmonton, Canada, and earlier last season he was on the roster of Kolossos Rodou in the Greek top division. He has experience in the ULEB EuroCup, where over two seasons with Lietkabelis he averaged 10.1 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in about 24 minutes per game, shooting 53% from two-point range and 37% from three-point range.
Club president Edgars Buļs noted a shortage of high-level small forwards in Latvian basketball and expressed satisfaction at signing a player with EuroCup experience. Head coach Roks Kondratavičs said Varnas was one of Lietkabelis's leading players before his injury, and his experience will be valuable for a team making its EuroCup debut. Kondratavičs believes Varnas will be fully recovered by the start of the new season.
Varnas said he is glad to join Zeļļi and help achieve the team's ambitious goals. Founded in 2023, Zeļļi failed to advance past the quarterfinals of the LIBL last season but won bronze in the Latvian Basketball League.
