Vaidas Kariniauskas

Vaidas Kariniauskas is a Lithuanian professional basketball player and team captain for Šiauliai of the Lithuanian Basketball League. Standing at, he primarily plays at the point guard position.

Professional career

Kariniauskas won the NKL bronze in 2012 and 2013 with BC Žalgiris-2. On 19 November 2013, he was loaned to BC Lietkabelis in order to get more playing time. After his loan spell, he rejoined Žalgiris for the 2014–15 season, winning the LKL league and the LKF Cup.
On 19 June 2015, Kariniauskas signed a 1+1 year deal with Kymis of the Greek A2 Basket League.
On 18 August 2016, Kariniauskas signed with Italian club Pallacanestro Cantù of the LBA. On 1 February 2017, he parted ways with Cantù. The same day, he signed with Romanian club U-BT Cluj-Napoca.
On 22 July 2021, Kariniauskas signed with Rytas Vilnius of the Lithuanian Basketball League.
On 2 August 2022, Kariniauskas signed a one-year deal with Brose Bamberg of the German Basketball Bundesliga.
On 8 December 2022, Kariniauskas signed with Rapid București of the Romanian Liga Națională.
On 14 September 2023, Kariniauskas signed a two-year contract with Wolves Twinsbet of the Lithuanian Basketball League and the EuroCup.
On 7 August 2025, Kariniauskas signed with Šiauliai of the Lithuanian Basketball League.

Kariniauskas was an active participant on youth competitions and won a silver medal at the 2009 European U-16 Championship. In 2015, he was included into the Lithuania men's national basketball team head coach Jonas Kazlauskas extended candidates list. Though, he was not invited to the training camp later on. He was invited to the training camp the following year. Firstly, Kariniauskas did not qualify for the Olympic roster, but later on he replaced Edgaras Ulanovas due to injury.
In 2023, Kariniauskas represented Lithuania at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. On 3 September 2023, he scored a team-high 15 points, along with four rebounds and two assists, leading Lithuania to a 110–104 win over the United States.