Boston Celtics Hire Linas Kleiza as General Manager

BOSTON — Celtics have hired Linas Kleiza as their new general manager.

Brad Stevens will remain Boston’s president of basketball operations, providing continuity at the top while Kleiza takes on the general manager role.

Kleiza, 41, played college basketball at Missouri before being selected 27th overall in the 2005 NBA Draft. He spent four seasons with the Denver Nuggets before later playing for the Toronto Raptors. In 2008, Kleiza scored a career-high 41 points against the Utah Jazz. His career also took him to Europe, where he played for Olympiacos, Fenerbahçe and Olimpia Milano. During the 2009-10 season with Olympiacos, Kleiza led the EuroLeague in scoring and helped the club reach the final. Kleiza was also a prominent member of the Lithuanian national team. He won bronze medals at the 2007 EuroBasket and 2010 FIBA World Championship and represented Lithuania at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. He was selected to the All-Tournament Team at both the 2010 World Championship and EuroBasket 2013.

Following his playing career, Kleiza moved into basketball management. He served as vice president and sports director of Vilnius Rytas from 2017-20 and has since taken on a leadership role with the Lithuanian men's national basketball program.

He understands the game from the perspective of a player who competed against NBA stars, from a European player who experienced the differences between international and American basketball, and from an executive who has already worked on the organizational side.

Now, in Boston, Kleiza will work alongside Stevens as the Celtics look to maintain their position among the NBA's top contenders.

For the Celtics, the appointment would represent more than simply hiring a former player. It would mean adding an executive whose basketball education spans Lithuania, the NCAA, the NBA, the EuroLeague and international competition — a background that could shape how Boston evaluates talent and builds its roster in the years ahead.