Now that he has picked up his national championship ring and seen the 2022 National Champions banner unveiled at Allen Fieldhouse at last week’s Late Night in the Phog, former Kansas big man Mitch Lightfoot is off to start his professional basketball career.
Lightfoot is slated to fly to Germany on Monday to join the KVL Kirchheim Knights, a pro team based in Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany, that plays in the Pro A league, which is the second highest level of German basketball.
The team was founded in 2006 and spent one season playing at the Pro B level before being promoted to Pro A.
The Knights play at a venue known as Sporthalle Stadtmitte, which holds 1,800 fans, and although that experience is cer-tain to be different than what Lightfoot is accustomed to at Al-len Fieldhouse, the KU big man is ecstatic to get back to play-ing again.
“I think I’ll be over there about seven months,” Lightfoot said Friday at Late Night. “The season’s already started, I’m kind of a little late on it, but I’m pumped. It’s going to be cool.”
In addition to playing basketball again, Lightfoot said he was thrilled with the timing of arriving in Germany “right in time for Oktoberfest.”
A few months after winning the national title with the Jayhawks, Lightfoot got engaged, and his fiancée is headed to Germany with him about a month later.
Lightfoot said he did not know anyone on the Knights roster all that well but that there were a couple of Americans that he was at least familiar with on the team.
The online roster shows 16 active players, with an average height of 6-foot-4 and an average age of 25.
At 6-8, 225 pounds, Lightfoot will be one of the tallest players on the team.
The Knights are off to a 0-3 start in their 34-game season, which is slated to run through April 29, 2023. Their next game is slated for Saturday against Bochum.