Luukas Vaara

Luukas Vaara (born 22 April 2001) is a Finnish basketball player who plays for Salon Vilpas in Finnish Korisliiga. He started basketball in youth teams of Namika Lahti and Lahti Basketball.

Luukas Vaara

No. 20 – Vilpas Vikings
Position	Center
League	Korisliiga
Personal information
Born	(2001-04-22) April 22, 2001 (age 24) Lahti, Finland
Listed height	2.07 m (6 ft 9 in)
Listed weight	100 kg (220 lb)
Career information
High school	Helsinki Basketball Academy, (Helsinki, Finland)
Playing career	2018–present
Career history
2018–2019	Lahti Basketball
2019–2020	Pussihukat
2020–2021	HBA-Märsky
2021–2022	SIG Strasbourg
2022–2023	Phoenix Hagen
2023–present	Salon Vilpas

Career

In his early senior career, Vaara played in Finland for Lahti Basketball and Pussihukat. For the 2020–21 season, he joined Helsinki Basketball Academy team HBA-Märsky playing in second-tier Koripallon I-divisioona.

On 1 July 2021, Vaara signed with French club SIG Strasbourg. He played mostly with the U21-team but debuted in LNB Pro A with the first team.^[1]

On 15 June 2022, Vaara left Strasbourg and joined Phoenix Hagen in German second-tier Pro A.^[2][3]

In 2023, he returned to Finland and signed with Korisliiga team Vilpas Vikings in Salo for the 2023–24 season.^[4]

International career

A former youth international, Vaara has played in six matches for the Finland national basketball team.^[5] He also represented Finland in the postponed 2021 Summer Universiade competitions in Chengdu in the summer 2023,^[6] where Finland finished 5th, the best position in the nation's history.