Arnas Velička


Arnas Velička is a Lithuanian professional basketball player for Champagne Châlons-Reims of the LNB Pro A.

Professional career

In 2015, after solid performance in FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship he signed with Žalgiris-2 Kaunas. In his first season with the team, Velička reached the finals were they lost to Sūduva Marijampolė and won silver medals. Velička averaged 4.7 points and 1.7 assists in 14.3 minutes per game.
In January 2016, Velička played for Žalgiris Kaunas youth in Adidas Next Generation Tournament which was held in Kaunas. Velička and Isaiah Hartenstein helped the team to win and qualify for the final stage of the tournament where his team finished third in Group A and didn't qualify for the final game. He was selected to an All-Tournament Team, averaging 14.7 points, 8.0 assists and 4.4 rebounds in 30 minutes in 7 games of both tournaments.
On 3 July 2016, Velička signed with FC Barcelona B of LEB Oro. From 7 to 10 September he participated in the Basketball Without Borders camp in Lohja, Finland and was named as the Overall Camp Most Valuable Player. On 3 February 2017, Velička was loaned to Lietkabelis Panevėžys of the Lithuanian Basketball League until the end of the 2017–18 season. After the 2017–18 season, Velička returned to Žalgiris Kaunas and was loaned to University of Tartu of the Estonian Basketball League for the 2018–19 season.
On June 23, 2020, he has signed with Champagne Châlons-Reims of the LNB Pro A.

National team career

Velička debuted for the junior national team of Lithuania in the 2015 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship. He averaged 10.8 points, 4.4 assists per 22.7 minutes of action. His team won silver medals. He was selected to the All-Tournament Team. After leading his Lithuanian Under-17 team to bronze medals in 2016 FIBA Under-17 World Championship, he was named to the All-Tournament Team, averaging 12.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and a tournament high 4.7 assists per game. Velička was also invited to the one year older U18 National Team to compete in the 2016 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship. He not only was one of the silver medals winning national team leaders with 11 points, 3 rebounds and 5.7 assists, but also was the whole tournament leader in assists. His most famous play was performed versus the Russian U18 National Team during the quarter-final when he hit lethal three-points buzzer-beater to lead his team to a remarkable 82–81 victory. It was named as the top play of the tournament.