Mindaugas Kuzminskas has the NBA’s most badass hobby: Picking wild mushrooms

Perhaps no member of the 2016-17 New York Knicks is more difficult to pin down than Mindaugas Kuzminskas. The 27-year-old rookie forward hasn’t shot the ball well, hitting just 39.2 percent of his field goal attempts and 33.3 percent of his threes. He’s not a particularly adept defender, or rebounder, or passer. Yet he always seems to be in the right place at the right time, and he remains the only Knicks regular with a positive on-court net rating (+6.8 points per 100 possessions in 151 total minutes).

What is his Kuzminskas’ secret? We know he loves to smile, and enjoys Broadway shows, but what really helps him succeed on the basketball court?

I think we’ve found the answer in this recent MSG profile:

YOU DO WHAT IN YOUR SPARE TIME?

When Kuzminskas is home, he likes to pick wild mushrooms.

There it is, the secret Kuzminskas training regimen. It’s just like the Siberian training montage from Rocky IV, except instead of chopping down trees and lifting boulders, Kuz is gallivanting through some enchanted Lithuanian forest, picking mushrooms.

Eye of the Tiger! Nose of the Truffle Hog! The rest of the NBA has been warned: Cheese is coming for you, and he has plenty of mushrooms in his knapsack.

UPDATE

Confirmed by Kuzminskas himself!