Thomas Walkup leaves Zalgiris after 3 great years 3

After three years donning a green-and-white Zalgiris jersey, Thomas Walkup is set to begin a new stage of his career, as he leaves Kaunas having been named the LKL Finals MVP.

After joining Zalgiris in 2018 from MHP Ludwigsburg in Germany, the guard didn’t have an easy going in his first steps in Zalgirio Arena, as he needed some time to adjust to a higher level. While his transformation to a point guard took a while, his efforts soon paid dividends.

The Texan will take his talents to Greece next season, where he joins Olympiacos Piraeus, a team he stole a victory from in the 2020-2021 regular season, with a steal and a game-winning bucket on the other end.

Walkup gave his last interview after the LKL Finals series knowing that that might have been his last moments in a green-and-white jersey.

“Two days ago, after the last game of the finals, just the thought this could be my last game here, I was almost emotional walking over to do the post-game interview. Everybody was on their feet, everybody was cheering, even with 10 percent capacity of the arena. I still felt this powerful emotion come over me.

Zalgiris, especially that first year, gave me a chance. Throughout that first year, they stuck with me, stayed by my side, didn’t release me or replace me, and I finally figured it out. There was a time where I wouldn’t really have blamed Zalgiris if they just let me go. Them staying loyal to me really showed me a lot, and that loyal will kind of run forever, both ways.”