Veteran Nuggets executive Martynas Pocius is leaving the NBA to become a deputy general manager for Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid, reports Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com.
Pocius has spent the past eight years working in Denver’s front office, most recently holding the title of assistant director of pro personnel, Urbonas writes. The 39-year-old has also served as a Nuggets scout both in the NBA and around the globe.
Pocius played college basketball for — and graduated from — Duke and competed in the EuroLeague for several years prior to retiring in 2017, as Kendra Andrews wrote for The Athletic in 2020. Pocius, who was a guard, played for Zalgiris Kaunas in his native Lithuania as well as Real Madrid and Galatasaray (Turkey).
“Since I played at Duke, I had seven surgeries,” Pocius told Andrews. “It took a toll on my body and I was in this cycle of getting injured, having surgery, trying rehab, all to come back and then have it happen all over again … I was reaching a point where I wasn’t enjoying basketball as much as I used to. I was a gym rat and I loved the gym, and it wasn’t fun being there anymore.”
Pocius also won a pair of medals — a bronze at the 2010 World Cup and a silver at EuroBasket 2013 — with the Lithuanian national team, Urbonas notes.
Pocius will be working alongside former Real Madrid backcourt mate Sergio Rodriguez in running the team’s front office. Rodriguez, a former NBA first-round pick, retired as a player last year.
It’s worth noting that Pocius got his start with the Nuggets due to his connection to childhood friend Tommy Balcetis. According to Andrews, while they were both attending Balcetis’ wedding, former head of basketball operations Tim Connelly offered Pocius a job if he decided to retire, something he wound up doing a year later.
The Nuggets decided not to retain Balcetis in June after the team’s former assistant GM had spent 12 years with the organization.