Arizona forward Azuolas Tubelis won't play for the Lithuanian U20 national team this summer reportedly because of a wrist injury that could require surgery.
Big loss for the #LTUbasketball U20 national team.Ąžuolas Tubelis has informed the federation and U20 NT head coach that he would miss this summer's international competition due to injury.https://t.co/VISWnXS7KF
— LTU Basketball (@ltu_basketball) June 6, 2022
Wrist.
— Marius Milašius (@mamilasius) June 6, 2022
It is unclear if Tubelis hurt his wrist in Tucson or elsewhere. Arizona has not confirmed any sort of injury or issue with Tubelis this summer.
Krepsinis reported that Tubelis is currently in Lithuania, and has told the basketball federation he is having trouble with a "chronic injury." A translation of Krepsinis' article quoted Tubelis as saying he may need surgery and hoped to recover this summer.
The story also quoted a Lithuanian official saying they met with Tubelis, his mother, national team doctors and other officials to examine the situation. They determined "the priority is to heal the injuries" of Tubelis.
(Side note: If you're reading the translation, note that Tubelis' first name can be translated as "Oak" or "Oak Tree" -- in fact this website says Azuolas is one of the words that can "make you fall in love with the Lithuanian language.")
The Lithanian basketball official, Mindaugas Balčiūnas, also said Tubelis "is one of those key guys who will hopefully be the core player in the men's national team for the next ten years."
Tubelis helped lead Lithuania to a sixth-place finish in the U19 World Cup last summer in Latvia before becoming a first-team all-Pac-12 pick last season as a sophomore at UA.
Tubelis suffered a significant ankle injury on Jan. 20 at Stanford and missed an ensuing game at Cal and was limited against UCLA on Jan. 25. Tubelis appeared to return to full health in February, though he averaged just 19.7 minutes over the Wildcats' three NCAA Tournament games.
