After more than a year away from competition, Rokas Jokubaitis is playing basketball again.
The Lithuanian guard stepped onto the court for Bayern Munich for the first time on Sunday, helping his team begin the German League season with a 108-72 victory over Brose Bamberg.
The appearance ended a 384-day wait that began with a serious knee injury at EuroBasket.
His Bayern career was supposed to start much earlier. Jokubaitis moved to Germany following a career-best EuroLeague campaign with Maccabi Tel Aviv, only to suffer the injury against Finland on September 1, 2025.
Surgery and a lengthy rehabilitation prevented him from playing at all during his first year in Munich.
That created the unusual situation of Jokubaitis entering another year with Bayern while still waiting to make his competitive debut.
“It’s like my second season with Bayern, but officially, no… It was like a one-year-long rehab and I’m still waiting for my first official game for Bayern.”
What made the setback particularly frustrating was the form Jokubaitis had reached immediately before getting hurt.
“I think it happened in the worst moment, because I was playing the best basketball of my career – in EuroBasket and the season before with Maccabi.”
The Lithuanian initially hoped he had avoided a major injury, but an MRI the following morning showed that surgery was required.
What followed was a year in which his biggest development came mentally rather than on the basketball court.
“You have to go through the process to understand that you get stronger. Not my muscles necessarily, but my head, my mentality.”
Jokubaitis can now leave rehabilitation behind and focus on basketball again.
Finding his previous level, rebuilding confidence and helping Bayern contend for a playoff spot are among his goals, but the long absence also changed how he views simply being able to play.
“I realized that one year without basketball is too much. I felt that basketball is really important for me, and without playing, I’m not the same person. So now I have to appreciate it more.”
