Jānis Gailītis (born 23 April 1985) is a Latvian former professional basketball player, and current head coach for SIG Strasbourg of the LNB Élite and the Latvian national team.
Coaching career From 2002 until 2011, Gailītis was a professional basketball player. He played for such teams as Skonto, ASK Rīga and VEF Rīga. Since 2007, he was player-manager for VEF Rīga but at the 2010–2011 season was promoted to assistant coach.Gailītis pārņem "VEF Rīga" stūri, komandu atstāj Nankivils On 17 December 2015, Gailītis took over the head coaching duties after Carlos Frade was fired. With Gailītis at the helm, VEF has won five Latvian championships and reached VTB United League quarter-finals twice.
German Bundesliga side Mitteldeutscher BC announced on 3 June 2024, that Gailītis agreed to become the new head coach of the team.
On 11 June 2025, he signed with SIG Strasbourg of the French LNB Pro A.
National team career In 2011 and 2013, he was the assistant coach for Latvian U16 team. In 2014, Gailītis was the head coach for Latvian U16 team, which won a silver medal at the FIBA Europe U16 Championship. In 2015, he was the head coach for Latvian U18 team.
In 2021, Gailītis was named as an assistant coach on Luca Banchi's staff with the senior Latvia national team. On 24 March 2026, Gailītis was appointed as head coach of Latvia.
Honors and awards
Club career Mitteldeutscher BC 1x German Cup: (2025)
BK VEF Rīga 7x Latvian Basketball League Gold: (2017, 2019-2024) 1x Latvian-Estonian Basketball League Gold: (2022) 3x Latvian Cup: (2022-2024) 3x Latvian-Estonian Basketball League Silver: (2019, 2021, 2023) 2x Latvian Basketball League Silver: (2016, 2018) 1x Latvian-Estonian Basketball League Bronze: (2024)
National team FIBA Europe U-16 Championship Runner Up: (2014)
References