Sarunas Marciulionis elected to European Parliament

Lithuanian hoops legend and former NBA star Sarunas Marciulionis has won a seat on the European Parliament after the recently concluded elections on Sunday. The 54-year-old Marciulionis will be representing his native country Lithuania’s Farmers and Greens Union. The party secured 12 percent of the vote during the elections.

Sarunas Marciulionis is considered to be one of the best European basketball players of all time. He is best known for his NBA career but also as an Olympic gold medal winner in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. In 2014 he was also inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Marciulionis was drafted by the Golden State Warriors in 1987. He played four seasons for them starting in 1989 and was able to average 14.7 ppg, 2.4 apg and 1.4 spg. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014.

After his days as a player, Marciulionis went on to open the Sarunas Hotel in Vilnius and later founded the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) in 1993.