Nik Stauskas

Nikolas Tomas Stauskas (born October 7, 1993) is a Canadian professional basketball player who last played for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He averaged 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in 2007–08 and 32 points, 14 rebounds and 7.5 assists in 2008–09.

Stauskas also joined the premier Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team in Toronto, run by Ro Russell.

Some of Russell's prior players, such as Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph had gone to the United States to complete their scholastic years.

Until 2009, Stauskas played for Loyola Catholic Secondary School.

Stauskas spent the 2009–10 academic year at South Kent School, but he transferred to St. Mark's School the following year.

He missed the 2009–10 basketball season as a result of a hip injury.

Michigan Wolverines men's basketball head coach John Beilein became familiar with Stauskas during the Summer 2010 NBA camp prior to Stauskas's junior year.

He visited Michigan that summer and was also being recruited by Villanova, Iowa State, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Florida and Providence.

By the time he arrived at St. Mark's, he was expected to be an All-State performer.

In the 2011 NEPSAC Class AA Championship game, Stauskas led St. Mark's in scoring with 17 points against Nerlens Noel and the Tilton School, but St. Marks lost 72–56.

On March 26, 2011, Stauskas made a verbal commitment to Michigan.

At the time of their November 2011 National Letter of Intent signings, Stauskas, Glenn Robinson III and Mitch McGary gave Michigan a consensus top 10 entering class for its 2012 class.

The 2011–12 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team had been co-champions of 2011–12 Big Ten Conference, but lost both of its co-captains, Zack Novak and Stu Douglass, to graduation and three players as transfers.

The team was returning a nucleus of All-Big Ten players Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr..

Stauskas began his college career with the expectation that he would be a sharpshooter based on his performance in three-point field goal drills in which he had raised the bar for the team.

A shooting guard, Stauskas played two seasons of college basketball for the Michigan Wolverines from 2012 to 2014.

As a freshman for the 2012–13 Michigan Wolverines, Stauskas was named Sports Illustrated National Freshman of the Week once, Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Week three times and to the Wayman Tisdale Award, United States Basketball Writers Association's National Freshman of the Year, top 12 midseason list.

This commitment made him the second member of Michigan's recruiting class of 2012.

That summer, he scored 27 points in an exhibition of Canadian high school all-stars against the Baylor Bears men's basketball team.

Prior to his senior year, ESPN named him as one of the top 25 three-point shooters in the national class of 2012.

Stauskas led St. Mark's to 67–57 victory in a 2012 Hoophall Classic contest with 16 points against Friends Central.

As the season progressed, Stauskas (and Robinson) improved in the national player ratings to offset McGary's slide and maintain a top-rated class.

He scored 19 to lead his school to a 59–53 2012 NEPSAC Class AA Championship game victory over Noel's Tilton.

Stauskas earned the NEPSAC championship game MVP.

He was selected to the 2012 All-NEPSAC Class AA first team (along with teammate Kaleb Tarczewski).

Following these honors, Stauskas's stock and rankings continued to rise.

In the championship rounds of the 2012 NIT Season Tip-Off tournament at Madison Square Garden on November 21 and 23, Michigan defeated Pittsburgh and Kansas State, respectively, to win the tournament.

On November 26, Stauskas earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors for his NIT tournament performance in which he averaged 12.5 points and 4.5 rebounds.

On November 27, Michigan defeated its first ranked opponent of the season, NC State (#18 AP Poll/#18 Coaches' Poll), in the ACC–Big Ten Challenge with a then-career-high 20 points from Stauskas in a 79–72 victory.

On December 1 against Bradley, Stauskas made his first career regular season start and posted a new career-high 22 points.

During the 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, he earned South All-Regional Team recognition.

As a sophomore for the 2013–14 team, Stauskas went on to be named a 2014 NCAA Men's Basketball consensus All-American and was named Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year for the 2013–14 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season.

Stauskas has played for several NBA and NBA G League teams.

In 2022, he reached the NBA Finals with the Celtics.

Stauskas grew up in Mississauga, Ontario.

His first experience with basketball came as a member of the Aušra Sports Club, which is a Toronto-based traveling team for children of Lithuanian descent.

He became so devoted to basketball that his head coach at Michigan, John Beilein, said in 2013, "He doesn't know anything about hockey, he doesn't know anything about football. The other day we had him try to throw a baseball pass as a press breaker. And he had never thrown a baseball."

He was drafted eighth overall in the 2014 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings.

Stauskas, whose family is of Lithuanian heritage, is a member of the Canadian national team.