RIGA (Latvia) - August 2023 was a pretty big month for Latvian basketball.
Entering the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 with a 39-point showdown against Lebanon and an 88-86 upset victory over France as newcomers, Latvia started to make noise in Jakarta.
Dairis Bertans had been waiting for such an opportunity on the global stage for his whole career, but a hamstring injury suffered only in the second game of the tournament put an early end to his participation.
He stayed on the sideline, contributing with his vocal leadership.
Following that joyful World Cup, which finished with a party involving thousands of countrymen in Riga's city center, the experienced sharpshooter returned home, closing the door to a journey that saw him play in Spain, Türkiye, Italy, and Russia. Even in the NBA for a short stint with the New Orleans Pelicans.
Two years have passed by, and Dairis Bertans is still there with VEF Riga, competing in the Basketball Champions League.
He recently announced his retirement and played his last game with the national team, where his spot might shortly be occupied by one of his current teammates.
"I didn't really know him. I saw him in the EuroLeague ANGT, but when I saw him play, it was actually this summer. I was watching some U19 games, and the way he played caught my eye and my attention. He's more mature than his peers at that age,” Bertans said about Adrians Andzevs.
Actually, since life works in interesting ways, the 1989-born Bertans and the 2007-born Andzevs haven't only shared the daily club routine until the end of the 2025-26 season, but also Latvia's recent clashes in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 European Qualifiers.
The 18-year-old played his first-ever senior national team game, contributing to Latvia's 86-68 road win against Austria with 6 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Not a bad start at all.
Can Dairis's ultimate national-team appointments create the bridge to let Adrians follow his idol's footsteps wearing Latvia's beloved jersey? We don't know the answer yet.
What we know is that the 18-year-old next big thing out of Latvian basketball decided to shape his own future.
Spain? That sounds like "home away from home"
Kristaps Porzingis in Sevilla, Rodions Kurucs in Barcelona and his brother Arturs in Vitoria, Rolands Smits in Fuenlabrada. Looking at the most prominent names who came out of Latvian basketball, quite a few chose to move to Spain to improve straight from a young age.
Adrians Andzevs wanted to try something new in 2022, at 15 years old. But at the same time, he wasn't "super excited" about moving abroad.
"I went to Madrid for a couple of days, I had individual tryouts there and a couple of team practices. My dad came with me and stayed in a hotel. When I finished, I came back to Latvia, waiting for a couple of weeks to see if they wanted me or not," he recalled from his recruitment process.
"I had some tournaments with the U15 national team that summer, and before those, my agent told me Real Madrid actually wanted me with a three-year contract. At that time, I wasn't super excited. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to go to Spain and try something new," he said.
What he didn't understand at first was how big of an organization that was, and how much Real Madrid's youth academy could have helped him make a step forward in his career.
"I didn't realize what the team was really like. When I went there, I figured out it was a big deal. I felt really nervous, but the coaches and players who were there already really helped me to adapt and feel at home. Everything was perfect," Andzevs said about his time in the Spanish capital.
He wasn't only competing at the highest stage of youth basketball in Spain, but also against his peers around Europe, participating in the EuroLeague Next Generation Tournament; after just a one-year adjustment, he was on top of Europe, playing next to current NBA players.
"When I went there, I thought it wasn't real because I used to watch my teammates on some TikTok highlights. It was actually crazy to me."
"I was practicing and working out with guys, and then I saw them in the Top 20 of the NBA Draft. Two years ago, I was in the same team with Hugo Gonzalez and Egor Demin: I took so much from them, and now they're in the NBA," Andzevs recalled.
The ANGT not only allowed him to try out his chances against some of the best academies around Europe, but also served as the platform where he showcased his talent and was recognized by scouts, players, and coaches.
Martins Gulbis was among them.
"He's surely a special kid. Real Madrid is a very big organization: to make it to their 12-man roster, you need to have a certain talent, especially if you are from Latvia. We're not the biggest country, but we've got a big heart," VEF Riga's current head coach commented.
"I was watching some ANGT games in December 2024, and I knew about him already, just like other youth Latvian players. I told our GM and our President that we needed to make big moves to bring Latvian players back to our club, and we started working on it."
The 2024-25 season ended with Adrians Andzevs averaging 9.7 points and 7.0 assists per game in the ANGT Finals in Abu Dhabi, and the U18 Latvian national team was up next, alongside somebody who would become a familiar face for the 2007-born guard.
"During the summer, I had the opportunity to work with coach [Martins Gulbis] in the U18 national team; he was the assistant coach there. We spent all the summer together," Andzevs said.
"From day one, I saw that he was willing to learn and play basketball with a good attitude," Gulbis added.
Their first experience together didn't translate into a medal for Latvia at the FIBA U18 EuroBasket 2025, as Italy prevailed 86-68 over the Baltic country in the Third-Place Game.
But Adrians still finished by averaging 12.3 points and 4.0 assists per game, next to another gem in Valdis Valters.
If choosing Spain to leave Latvia and have a first experience abroad sounded like continuing a note-worthy tradition, his next step was only about walking on a path all his own, founded on uniqueness.
Following the unique route on his way back to Latvia
"College basketball nowadays is tempting," Dairis Bertans knows, "but I’m curious to see whether those guys are going to be prepared for the professional level in three or four years from now."
The 36-year-old sharpshooter has seen it all, and he knew that thinking out of the box, rejecting what is becoming an ordinary trajectory for the vast majority of youth European talents, could have been not only sensible but also beneficial for Andzevs' future.
"I thought the best option for me was to come back to Latvia to play professionally. I think this is the best situation for me at the moment, and next year the goal is to go to college," Adrians revealed.
The perfect match was made in heaven. On one side, an 18-year-old Latvian talent who left the country three years earlier and was eager to prove himself against professionals; on the other, VEF Riga, which could offer him the Basketball Champions League and the Latvian-Estonian League stages.
With Martins Gulbis at the helm of the coaching staff, he had somebody trustworthy next to him, and at the same time, a coach willing to give him the right tools to improve.
Having another leader next to him helped in making such a choice.
"I knew I was going to be with experienced guys who have played for a lot of years here, who could teach me something. Especially Dairis [Bertans]: he's one of the best Latvian players ever. I can learn so much from him," he said.
"If you ask me, Adrians made the best move because he knew in advance that, despite being only 18 years old, he would get his minutes here. He's not the young prospect you put on the bench, the guy who gets his playing time when the game is decided," Bertans followed.
"If you have the chance to stay in Europe and play in a high-level competition like the BCL, that's ideal."
"He's taking responsibility; he has also won a game for us, scoring big baskets at the end. In college basketball, there are so many teams, so many players: you have to survive there. Here in Riga, he's challenged, and at the same time, he's playing against professionals."
Thus far, Riga haven't managed to win a game yet in Group F of the BCL Regular Season, staying at 0-4 despite going only one point away (77-76) from a road win in Hungary against NHSZ-Szolnoki Olajbanyasz.
That game was the start of a healthy tradition for Adrians.
"It's crazy. We went to Hungary, and coach put us next to each other in the locker room. That night, all night long, I asked him questions about his career and the teams he has played for. I want to know as much as I can, because you can't work with these guys every day," Andzevs said.
Jumping into more opportunities with a quick pull-up
Unlike other young prospects of his age, Adrians Andzevs is collecting significant playing time both in the BCL (14.1 minutes with 3.8 points per game) and in the Latvian-Estonian League (20.3 minutes with 6.2 points and 3.0 assists per game).
"He has earned every minute on the court, from practices, his attitude, and the passion for the game. He can improve on a lot of things, but we weren't expecting straight from the beginning to have one of the best point guards in the Basketball Champions League," Gulbis commented.
"We hope he can continue like this, coming early to practice and staying after it to improve individually," he continued on one of the candidates for Best Young Player of the Season.
Obviously, the 18-year-old is acting like a sponge by keeping attention to every detail of Dairis Bertans' mentality.
"Shooting off the dribble, his explosiveness, his work ethic: he's doing stuff like this at a high level still at his age," the young guard explained.
"He's working hard in the gym, coming early to practice, and staying after. That's what I'm watching. This is one of his last seasons, and he's still doing that. I want to learn from him, because sometimes I don't want to warm up, for example. But seeing him do it, it makes me do it, too."
While the student learns, the master guides him.
"He understands basketball, and he knows what he's doing now. I have confidence in him, and I kind of liked the idea of getting a young prospect, potentially one of the future national team players, to the club, trying to help him develop," he said.
Coach Martins Gulbis highly values the importance of having a veteran like Bertans dedicating one of the last chapters of his playing career to spread the word and help an ambassador of Latvian basketball's next generation take the next step.
"It's very important to have a guide like Dairis [Bertans], more than anybody. He shows him the example on a daily basis, and having him around is one of the reasons why Adrians is here with us. When Dairis was 18-19 years old, he was also in VEF Riga, coached by a legendary coach like Rimas Kurtinaitis. Having both a leader and a young talent learning from him is the perfect combo for us."
What's sure is that Dairis Bertans must be a masterful teammate off the court, teaching Andzevs the perfect recipe to extend his career for such a prolonged period of time. At the same time, he knows in which areas Adrians' game could take the next step. After all, he's learning from a shooter.
"To take his game to the next level, he needs to be even more dangerous on the offensive end. He's super quick on his drive, he's aggressive with his first step, and he attacks the basket fearlessly; even against bigger guys, he has a good finish around the basket," Bertans said.
"But if he could add being a threat from the three-point line, especially after the pick-and-roll, that would really help him open up the space more for his drives, creating for others."
"It's okay when he's open, when I have him on the back pass, I always throw it to him because he's a good catch-and-shoot shooter: he has the right time and space. But if he could take that shot after the dribble, it would be even better. I'm sure he will become better and better in that," he added.
Riga's upcoming talent is perfectly conscious about his abilities and has been proving to possess the right personality.
"I think I'm doing great. Maybe not well on the defensive end, but on offense, I'm surprising a lot of people," Adrians Andzevs comments on his capacities.
"The opponents think I'm just going to pass and move straight to the corner, and my defender is a bit more relaxed than usual. So I just go by him and show him that he needs to respect me more. I score one basket, and I gain his respect: they know I can make situations on offense too."
Gaining respect has become a common habit for Latvian players, used to the necessity of proving their value to the world. Once people have realized the Baltic country’s ability to produce basketball talents, they are now reaping the benefits.
"Latvian players have been gaining more respect over the past few years. Following our national teams' results, a lot more basketball people from Latvia are being followed. We're not the most athletic people, but we can play with our heads, with our brains. That's our biggest tool," Andzevs said.
The common ground doesn't involve only the next generation of players from Latvia, but the ones about to retire as well.
"We've set the bar high with Latvia. We showed our values and left a big mark on Latvian basketball. When you think of the national team, you immediately think of our values and qualities, on and off the court," Bertans followed.
"The federation and the program have improved on many different levels, and it's an even better privilege to represent your country. It should serve the next generation of guys as another reason to keep working and earn opportunities to become part of the national team."
Guys like Valdis Valters and Ilja Kurucs are the ultimate branches of centuries-old family trees that have represented iconic eras of Latvian basketball.
Emerging from quieter backgrounds but still following some of his predecessors' steps by stopping by in Spain, Adrians Andzevs has deservedly gained his spot among the next wave of talents shaped in Latvia.
With an expert master by his side, he can pull up to the future.