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Kristaps Valters

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Kristaps Valters
Valters playing for Latvia in 2006
Personal information
Born (1981-09-18) September 18, 1981 (age 43)
Riga, Latvian SSR
NationalityLatvian
Listed height6 ft 1.5 in (1.87 m)
Listed weight185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
NBA draft2003: undrafted
Playing career1998–2017
PositionPoint guard
Number9, 18
Coaching career2017–2018
Career history
As player:
1998–2000ASK/Brocēni/LMT
2000–2001Antalya BB
2001–2003Skonto
2003Panionios
2003–2004Skonto
2004–2006EWE Baskets Oldenburg
2006–2007Amatori Udine
2007–2008Triumph Lyubertsy
2008–2009Fuenlabrada
2009–2010Joventut Badalona
2010–2011Fuenlabrada
2011–2012Unicaja Málaga
2012Artland Dragons
2012–2013Fuenlabrada
2013–2014TED Ankara Kolejliler
2014Barons
2014–2016Türk Telekom
2017Valmiera/ORDO
As coach:
2017–2018Valmiera/ORDO

Kristaps Valters (born September 18, 1981) is a Latvian former professional basketball player. After retiring he became a coach, and is currently working as a head coach for Valmiera/ORDO.

Playing career

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Valters first played professionally in 1998, for ASK/Brocēni/LMT. In 2000, Valters signed his first foreign contract, with Antalya Büyükşehir Belediyesi, but played there only one season. He then returned to the Latvian Basketball League, signing a two-year contract with the newly created team Skonto.

In 2003, he played in the NBA Summer League for the Cleveland Cavaliers alongside number #1 pick in that draft LeBron James. In the fall of that year, he returned to Europe and played for Panionios. Valters did not stay there for long and in December 2004, he returned to play for Skonto.

From 2004 to 2006, he played for the Germany's Basketball Bundesliga club EWE Baskets Oldenburg. Then he went to Italy and played for Pallalcesto Amatori Udine. During the season in Italy he was named as Week 8 MVP of ULEB Cup.[1]

In 2007, he signed a contract with Scafati Basket, but never played there because he was injured and the team terminated his contract. In November 2007, Valters signed with Russian team Triumph Lyubertsy.

In the summer of 2008, he signed a contract with Liga ACB team Fuenlabrada and had a breakout season. The team wanted to retain Valters and offered him a three-year contract for about two million dollars, but Valters opted to sign a two-year contract with DKV Joventut in July 2009 replacing Ricky Rubio.

In August 2010, he returned to Baloncesto Fuenlabrada,[2] where he had another great year by leading his underdog squad to the ACB League's play-offs. For the 2011–12 season he signed with Unicaja Málaga,[3] helping team to reach Euroleague's Top16. Kristaps ended season in Malaga as ACB's leading three-point shooter.[4]

Prior to 2012–13 season Valters joined German squad Artland Dragons, but later returned to Fuenlabrada, where he finished the season.

For the 2013–14 season Valters moved to Turkey, signing with TED Ankara Kolejliler and guiding his team to Eurocup Quarterfinals. During the season Valters delivered some very impressive outings that included 26 points and 7 assists in a road win over Brose Baskets on January 29, 2014.[5] Valters capped season with a 31-point and 6 assists performance, shooting 9-10 from three in a win over Pınar Karşıyaka on 7 May 2014.[6]

On December 3, 2014 he signed with Türk Telekom.[7] On February 20, 2017, Valters signed with the Latvian team Valmiera.[8] On May 1, 2017, Valters announced that he has to retire from playing due to health problems.[9]

National team career

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Valters was a member of the senior Latvian national team in four EuroBasket tournaments (2001, 2003, 2005, and 2009).

Personal life

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Valters' father Valdis, is a former Soviet Union basketball star, and his brother, Sandis, also played professional basketball.

References

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  1. ^ Week 8 MVP: Kristaps Valters, Snaidero Udine
  2. ^ Kristaps Valters vuelve al Baloncesto Fuenlabrada Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
  3. ^ Unicaja announces Kristaps Valters
  4. ^ Valters - sezonas labākais snaiperis ACB līgā
  5. ^ Brose Baskets Bamberg 84 - 94 Aykon TED Ankara Kolejliler
  6. ^ "Aykon TED Ank. Kolejliler - Pınar Karşıyaka (99) - (64)". Archived from the original on 2014-07-20. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  7. ^ Kristaps Valters officially signs with Turk Telekom Ankara
  8. ^ "Kristaps Valters inks with Valmiera/ORDO". 20 February 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  9. ^ Kristaps Valters: "Spēlētāja karjera, visticamāk, ir beigusies" (in Latvian)
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