The team quickly rose to prominence, winning the Soviet Union's top-tier USSR Premier Basketball League twice, in 1947 and 1951,[3] as well as multiple domestic Lithuanian championships.

The team at the time was led by Stepas Butautas, Vytautas Kulakauskas, Justinas Lagunavičius, Kazimieras Petkevičius, and later, by Stasys Stonkus and Algirdas Lauritėnas.

Žalgiris became the dominant club in the Soviet Union and Europe when they added Valdemaras Chomičius and Rimas Kurtinaitis to their roster, along with coach Vladas Garastas.

From 1985 to 1987, Žalgiris won three consecutive Soviet Union National League championships, beating CSKA Moscow (English: Central Sports Club of Army) in the finals in all three years.

Just before the start of the 1989–90 season, Žalgiris lost Sabonis, Kurtinaitis, Jovaiša, Chomičius, and head coach Garastas, as the Iron Curtain, which had barred Lithuanian basketball talent from becoming internationally sought-after, had been lifted.

Over the following two years, Žalgiris again dominated LKL tournaments, beating Atletas Kaunas 3–0 in 1995 and 3–2 (after being down 0–2 in the series) in 1996, and had success participating in the 1995–96 FIBA European Cup when Rimas Kurtinaitis returned to play for his home team.

In 1997, Žalgiris again won the LKL championship, beating Žemaitijos Olimpas 3–0 in the finals, and reaching round 16 in the Saporta Cup, losing to Paris Basket Racing.

Sabonis became the principal owner of the club in 2003, after playing for many years in the Spanish ACB League and the North American National Basketball Association (NBA).

[13] In the EuroLeague, Žalgiris finished the regular season with an 8–6 record, including wins on the road against heavy favorites Maccabi Tel Aviv and FC Barcelona.

After Ainars Bagatskis was replaced by assistant coach Rimantas Grigas and the signing of new point guard DeJuan Collins, Žalgiris won the newly established LKF Cup by beating Lietuvos Rytas.

The 2008–09 season started on a very high note, with contract extensions for Jonas Mačiulis and Loren Woods, retaining leader Marcus Brown, and the signing of new point guard Willie Deane, who replaced the departed DeJuan Collins.

However, after the recovery of Marcus Brown (who was injured for most of the season), Žalgiris won back the LKF Cup from Lietuvos Rytas and defeated VEF Riga in the BBL finals.

[citation needed] Due to the NBA lockout that impacted the 2011–12 season, Žalgiris signed former Toronto Raptors wing Sonny Weems and former Denver Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson.

[54] After winning the LKL title, Žalgiris competed in the VTB United League playoffs, defeating Nizhny Novgorod in the quarterfinals but losing to Lokomotiv Kuban in the semi-finals.

Žalgiris left the VTB United League because of the changes in the EuroLeague format that meant that the teams who did not qualify for the Top 16 would have a chance to play in the EuroCup playoffs.

[63] After a loss to Lietuvos Rytas in the final LKL regular season game, Žalgiris entered the playoffs as the fourth seed, the worst in club history.

[75] After a poor start to the Top 16, head coach Krapikas was replaced by Šarūnas Jasikevičius, but injuries to Javtokas and the departure of Kalnietis led the team to a huge slump and a loss to Lietuvos Rytas in the King Mindaugas Cup final.

[76] After strong criticism of the team management for not finding a center to replace Javtokas, Žalgiris signed new point guard Jerome Randle.

[80] Žalgiris's preparation for the 2016–17 season began during the 2016 LKL finals, when the club signed point guard Léo Westermann to replace the departing Jerome Randle.

[84] To correct the previous season's lack of a good shooter, Žalgiris signed Kevin Pangos; the team was loaned Augusto Lima from Real Madrid to replace Vougioukas at center.

[95] Prior the 2017–18 season, Žalgiris reached an agreement with club sponsor Avia Solutions Group to guarantee private flights for the team during away games in a refurbished business-class Boeing 737.

[96][97][98][99] The off-season work began just a week after winning the LKL championship, when breakout player Brock Motum signed with Anadolu Efes S.K.

Schiller brought in Arne Woltmann and Tautvydas Sabonis as his assistant coaches, with Evaldas Beržininkaitis being the only person remaining on the team from Jasikevičius's old staff.

[116] In 2021, Žalgiris signed Tyler Cavanaugh, Niels Giffey, Mantas Kalnietis, Josh Nebo, Edgaras Ulanovas, Jānis Strēlnieks, and Emmanuel Mudiay.

[121] Injuries to players such as Lauvergne and Strelnieks, struggles in the LKL, and disappointing play from projected leaders such as Mudiay resulted in the worst start ever (0–9) for Žalgiris in the Euroleague.

By February, Žalgiris was in last place with a disastrous 4–20 record,[121] but recovered by March 2022, including memorable wins over the Jasikevičius-lead FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, future participants of the Euroleague Final Four, in particular thanks to the return of Joffrey Lauvergne from injury.

Žalgiris also finished second in attendance, behind KK Partizan, with fans selling out 16 of the 17 home games, starting in October, because of which, the Žalgirio Arena became the host of the Euroleague Final Four tournament.

Despite the departure by Brazdeikis, Žalgiris started the season strong, being undefeated in the LKL and 3-1 in the Euroleague, sparked by the incredible return to form by Keenan Evans.

However, the tragic finish in the Euroleague first round, with a 5-12 record, resulted in Žalgiris and Maksvytis mutually parting ways by the end of December; and coach Trinchieri was brought in to replace him.

The semifinals, against BC Lietkabelis, was a nightmare; in the deciding game of the victorious 3-0 Žalgiris sweep to set up a rematch against Rytas, Evans suffered a season-ending injury by rupturing his patellar ligaments.