As Sacramento Kings center and former Gonzaga University men’s basketball forward Domantas Sabonis stood in front of hundreds of his former colleagues at GU’s Volkar Center on July 11, he smiled and said that he wasn’t one for public speaking — a statement that drew a hearty laugh from the crowd.
Having freshly unveiled the Sabonis Family Strength and Conditioning Center, Sabonis made sure to repeatedly emphasize his appreciation for GU’s familial environment in his minute-long address. Following that speech, he showed why he chose to make the largest donation ever to the university’s basketball basketball program by a former player.
Sabonis spent the next hour bouncing around the room alongside his three children to personally thank everyone in attendance. When his former teammate Kevin Pangos went to the press to give an interview, Sabonis crashed it to playfully poke fun at him. All the while, he wore his trademark smile as if he had not missed a beat — even though he last took the court for GU a decade ago.
In both his speech and his later media availability, Sabonis said that the values instilled in him at GU are ones that he has continued to live out in his professional career and personal life.
“It’s been 10 years in the NBA, and I couldn’t be here without this special program,” Sabonis said in his address. “It definitely feels like home to me here. Every time I come, every time I land, it really is special to me, and seeing all the guys here and what they can accomplish moving forward.”
Sabonis’ accomplishments on-court are gaudy. He still holds GU’s all-time record for field goal percentage at 63%, he helped steer the Zags to an Elite Eight appearance as a sophomore and he’s a three-time NBA All-Star. What Sabonis did beyond those numbers and accolades, GU Head Coach Mark Few said, was what set him apart as an ambassador of the program’s culture.
“He brought it every single day. He stood for everything, as I mentioned in my remarks, [that] being a Zag is all about,” Few said. “He really, truly values team … winning, toughness — you know, he’s just a first-class guy, and comes from a great family.”
When Sabonis left GU as a sophomore to enter the NBA Draft in 2016-17, he was one of just two former Zags on an NBA roster alongside then-Boston center Kelly Olynyk. Since, the program has produced seven first-round draft picks, four lottery picks and nine active NBA players (Sabonis included), as well as four WNBA Draft picks. That success helped pave the way for a variety of upgrades to the program’s facilities, including the construction of the Volkar Center in 2018.
“Just as a program, it’s great to see Gonzaga have something like this,” Pangos said. “You know, for years, we made it work, of course, and we did what we could on the court, but to just see it continue to build and grow and hopefully inspire and help the present and future players is essential to continue building what Gonzaga is and more going forward.”
Most of GU’s 2026-27 men’s and women’s basketball rosters were present at the dedication ceremony. Few said that having Sabonis return to GU and work with the team has been an effective supplement to the coaching staff’s efforts.
“If he wants to work out with them, he works out with them, and they can pick his brain,” Few said. “But you know you have full confidence that he’s reinforcing all the things that the program’s all about, because it’s really what he’s all about.”
Sabonis said he hopes this donation can inspire other GU basketball alumni to give back to the program, especially in an era where name, image and likeness dominate recruiting, roster retention and other aspects of collegiate roster-building.
“Hopefully this starts more current NBA players and future NBA players coming back and helping,” Sabonis said. “I just think this place is special, and I feel like every former player feels that way too.”
Brooks Coleman is a summer editor.