José Rafael "Piculín" Ortiz Rijos is a Puerto Rican former professional basketball player. He played in the NCAA, NBA, various European teams, and in Puerto Rico's Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN).
Dražen Petrović was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s, before joining the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1989.
Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos, also known simply as Panathinaikós[panˈaθinai̯ˈkos], is a major Greek multi-sport club based in the City of Athens. Panathinaikos is one of the most successful multi-sport clubs and one of the oldest clubs in Greece. The name "Panathinaikos" was inspired by the ancient work of Isocrates Panathenaicus, where the orator praise the Athenians for their democratic education and their military superiority, which use it for benefit of all Greeks.
Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou commonly known as AEL, is a Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team.
Apollon Limassol FC is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Division and has won the championship title four times, the cup nine times and the Super Cup four times.
Nikolaos Georgalis, commonly known as either Nikos Galis, or Nick Galis, is a Greek former professional basketball player. Galis, who during his playing days was nicknamed, "Nick The Greek", "The Gangster", and "The Iron Man", is widely regarded as Europe's greatest scorer to ever play the game, and as one of the all-time greatest players in FIBA international basketball history. In 1991, Galis was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players. In 2007, he became an inaugural member of the FIBA Hall of Fame. In 2008, he was chosen as one of the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors. In 2017, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Panagiotis "Notis" Giannakis, alternatively spelled Panayiotis Yiannakis or Yannakis, is a former Greek professional basketball player and coach. He is considered to be one of the greatest sportspeople of Greece. As a player, he was primarily a point guard, but he could also play at the shooting guard position. During his playing career, Giannakis was also widely-known under his nickname of "O Drákos", or "The Dragon" in English.
Toni Savevski is a Macedonian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Savevski is widely regarded as one of the best foreign players to have played in the Greek football league. After retiring from as a footballer in 2001 he became manager and managed several clubs in Cyprus, most notably Omonia.
David Lee Rivers is an American former professional basketball player and coach. A 5’11”(1.84 m ) tall point guard, he reached star status in the EuroLeague, mainly while playing with Olympiacos, under head coach Dušan Ivković. Rivers played 3 seasons in the NBA, one with the Los Angeles Lakers (1988–89) and two more with the Los Angeles Clippers. He played college basketball at the University of Notre Dame.
Isabelo "Jojo" Lastimosa Jr. is a Filipino former professional basketball player in the Philippine Basketball Association for the Purefoods Hotdogs, the Alaska Aces and the Pop Cola Panthers from 1988 to 2002. He is also both the head coach and team manager for the TNT Tropang Giga of the PBA. He was also a former member of the Philippines' national basketball team during the 1980s and 1990s. He also played for the University of San Jose - Recoletos in Cebu City. He had also a stint with the Ateneo de Manila. He is known by the nicknames "Jolas", "Mr. Clutch", "The 4th Quarter Man", and "PBA Jordan" for his deadly perimeter shooting.
Panathinaikos B.C., also known simply as Panathinaikos, is the professional basketball team of the major Athens-based multi-sport club Panathinaikos A.O. It is owned by the billionaire Giannakopoulos family.
Edgar Jones is a retired American professional basketball player, who had a career in the National Basketball Association (NBA), from 1980 to 1986.
Aris Basketball Club known in European competitions as Aris Thessaloniki, is the professional basketball team of the major Thessaloniki-based Greek multi-sport club A.C. Aris Thessaloniki. Aris BC was founded in 1922, eight years after the founding of the multi-sport club and the football team. Their traditional home arena is Alexandreio Melathron.
Greece has risen to prominence in a number of sporting areas in recent decades. Football in particular has seen a rapid transformation, with the Greece national football team winning the UEFA Euro 2004. Many Greek athletes have also achieved significant success and have won world and olympic titles in numerous sports during the years, such as basketball, wrestling, water polo, athletics, weightlifting, with many of them becoming international stars inside their sports. The successful organisation of the Athens 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games led also to the further development of many sports and has led to the creation of many world class sport venues all over Greece and especially in Athens. Greek athletes have won a total 161 medals for Greece in 17 different Olympic sports at the Summer Olympic Games, including the Intercalated Games, an achievement which makes Greece one of the top nations globally, in the world's rankings of medals per capital
Michalis Romanidis is a retired Greek professional basketball player. At 1.99 m tall, he played at the small forward and power forward positions.
Giannis Giannoulis (alternate spellings: Gioannis, Yannis, Ioannis, Yiannis is a Greek-Canadian former professional basketball player. During his playing career, at a height of 2.08 m tall, he played at both the power forward and center positions.
Jurij "Jure" Zdovc is a Slovenian former professional basketball player and coach. He is the current head coach of Bursaspor of the Turkish Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL). As a player, he was a 1.98 m (6'6") tall point guard, who began his professional playing career with the Yugoslav Second Division club Smelt Olimpija.
Gregory Hilko Wiltjer is a Canadian former professional basketball player. At a height of six feet, eleven inches tall, he played at the centre position. He played in several important tournaments for the senior Canadian national basketball team, including the 1984 Summer Olympics. He won the FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup championship of the 1985–86 season, while playing with the Spanish club FC Barcelona, and 2 Greek League championships, while playing with Aris Thessaloniki, from 1987 to 1989.
Basketballin Greece erupted with the win of the Greece men's national basketball team at the 1987 EuroBasket in Athens, which caused a general basketball euphoria in the country. Since then, the Greece men's national teams have achieved consistent international success, leading Greece to join Russia, Serbia, Croatia, Italy, Spain, France, and Lithuania in the circle of European basketball powers. In addition to the Greece national team's triumph in 1987, they won the gold medal at the 2005 EuroBasket, silver medals at the 1989 EuroBasket, and the 2006 FIBA World Cup, and the bronze medal at the 2009 EuroBasket.
Kenneth Benard Gabriel is an American professional basketball player for Basket Brescia Leonessa of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). At a height of 6'9" tall, he plays at the power forward position. He played college basketball for the Auburn Tigers.
