Former Kansas big man Mitch Lightfoot headed to Germany to start pro career

By Matt Tait     Oct 16, 2022

David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Kansas forward Mitch Lightfoot warms during practice for the men's Final Four NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, April 1, 2022, in New Orleans.

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.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.