Coach of the Year Tautvydas Sabonis opens up: Growing up with this surname wasn't easy

Tautvydas Sabonis, who recently led the London Lions to win all possible trophies in Great Britain this season, opened up about the difficulties of living under the shadow of his legendary surname.

In an interview on "The Benas Podcast," Sabonis admitted that growing up with the name Sabonis was not easy. "Sabonis is Sabonis, and my father is my father," he stated, acknowledging that he wasn't the player he perhaps imagined himself to be. The turning point, he explained, came around age 22 when he left the Malaga Unicaja reserve team, realizing he needed to build his own identity and career path.

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I won't lie, growing up with this surname was not easy. Sabonis is Sabonis, and my father is my father. The reality was that I wasn't as good a player as I imagined myself to be.

Sabonis, 34, confessed to feeling constant pressure to measure up not only to his father, the basketball icon Arvydas Sabonis, but also to his brother Domantas, who plays in the NBA. "Even after playing a good game, I wasn't happy," he recalled. "My wife would say I played great, but for me, it wasn't enough. And after bad games, I would get angry at myself and think I had to be better. It felt like I always had to reach a certain level, which is very high in our family."

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Even after playing a good game, I wasn't happy. My wife would say I played great, but for me, it wasn't enough. And after bad games, I would get angry at myself and think I had to be better. It felt like I always had to reach a certain level, which is very high in our family.

In August 2019, at just 28, Sabonis ended his professional playing career to pursue coaching. His first coaching role was as an assistant for BC Žalgiris' reserve team. A year later, he joined the main coaching staff of BC Žalgiris, where he remained until the end of the 2025 season. "When I became a coach, it was something neither my father nor my brother did. It became my own path," he said. "Many coaches told me earlier that I could coach one day because I looked at basketball differently and asked different questions. When I started coaching, I no longer had to think about whether my father was better or if my brother achieved more."

The London Lions team this season features several Lithuanian connections, with assistants Vytautas Pliauga and Gintaras Krapikas, and strength and conditioning coach Domantas Tautkus working alongside Sabonis. Martynas Purlys and Justinas Liaudinskas are part of the club's administration, and Karolis Lukošiūnas also plays for the Lions.

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When I became a coach, it was something neither my father nor my brother did. It became my own path.