The second year in a row Zalgiris starts the season with a lot of changes. During the off-season former NEBL Promotion Cup'99 holder broke down its roster almost completely. With only two left-overs (Donatas Slanina and Tomas Masiulis) from the last year squad Zalgiris brought nine new players. The club also moved the Assistant Coach Algirdas Brazys to the Head Coach position when former Head Jonas Kazlauskas resigned.
In the long list of the newcomers one face is very familiar for the NEBL fans - the center Grygoriy Khyzhnyak from Kyiv was one of the key- players in the last season. While searching for the new players Zalgiris set eyes on the younger generation of the Lithuanian basketball school and signed Kestutis Marciulionis, and Andrius Jurkunas both of them with a huge NCAA experience. Before the 2000/01 season Zalgiris has also signed 29-year-old American Steve Woodberry.

In 1944 the best basketball players from Kaunas united into one team, which was named Zalgiris. From the very beginning Zalgiris started achieving the first places in former Soviet Union Championships. Till 1990 the team won five Gold Medals (1947, 1951, 1985-1987). It also became the Silver Winner for seven times (1949, 1952, 1980, 1983-84) and was awarded six Bronze Medals (1953-1956, 1973, 1978).
In 1981 Zalgiris participated in the European Cup of Cup Winners for the first time and reached the quarterfinals. Another try to enter the European basketball elite was more successful.
In 1986 Zalgiris competed among the best European clubs and again lost the final to Cibona but beat the same team in the Intercontinental W. Jones Cup. This victory made the Zalgiris club famous all over the world. The leaders of the club became the protagonists of the Soviet Union National Team. Together they won the Silver of the World Championship in 1986 and the Olympic Gold in Seoul (1988). After 1989 when the team reached the semifinals in the European Cup of Cup Winners the brightest stars left for the European clubs (A. Sabonis, V. Chomicius, G. Krapikas and others).
In 1990 when the independence of Lithuania had been declared Zalgiris left the Championships of the Soviet Union. But it still continued competing with the teams from Russia, Ukraine and Estonia and in 1992 took the Profbasket Cup. Moreover the club became the winner of the Lithuanian Basketball League for 6 times in a row from 1993 to 1999. Zalgiris not only dominated in their own country but also granted the place in the European basketball. The golden letters were written into the history of the Lithuanian basketball when the team became the winner of the Eurocup in 1998. The 1998-99 will stand as a "triple-trophy" year for Zalgiris forever.
After sweeping the NEBL Promotion Cup'99 with a perfect 12-0 record Zalgiris went to the Eurologue Final Four in Munich to take the Champion title and finished the season unbeaten in the LKL championship (25-0 including play-offs).