Old people may remember Darius SongailaLithuanian interior with a very good mid-range shot, seen in Sacramento or Washington in the 2000s. The former player left the NBA courts in 2011 before returning in another role.
In 2018, he had indeed become an assistant in Gregg Popovich's expanded staff. But that is now over, by mutual agreement, due to the lack of solid prospects for advancement in the years to come.
“We came to the end of a path and it was time to change the situation. I had no opportunity to climb,” concedes and regrets Darius Songaila. “I don't want to sit on the bench of the other assistants anymore. The first assistants all have four-year contracts, so I have no chance of moving forward. We talked about it with Popovich and he told me it would be better to leave. We decided together that I was going to leave.”
The Lithuanian insists that this departure is a solution to evolve and not a desire to no longer work in Texas, with the Spurs.
“San Antonio became my second home, my first experience in coaching”he recalls. “I've learned a lot in this franchise. Of course, it's painful to leave this team, but I'm at the end of the road. I've been in the same role for three years and I don't want to stay if I don't have a chance to move up the ladder.”
And what's next? Why not sit on the bench of the Lithuanian national team, which currently doesn't have a coach? Darius Songaila is also a former international, who won the bronze medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, then a gold medal at Eurobasket three years later.
