Greek Players Abroad
Historically, the best Greek players generally did not play abroad because of the financial strength of Basket League, enabling its clubs to keep the country's top players at home. Until the late 1990s, virtually all of the national team played their club basketball in Greece. This situation began to change in the early 2000s when the top leagues in Russia and Spain experienced huge financial growth, and a few top players chose to chase the even greater financial rewards and competitive challenge of the NBA.
This can be illustrated by the makeup of Greece's two EuroBasket-winning teams. All 12 players on the 1987 roster were under contract to Greek clubs, while five of the 2005 squad were playing outside Greece. More recently, this phenomenon has begun to change as many Greek clubs, most notably ancient rivals Panathinaikos and Olympiacos, have offered top-notch salaries to once again attract Greece's top players back home. Today, relatively few Greeks play in foreign leagues, and as a rule they are not the country's best players. The final 12-man Greek squad for the 2010 FIBA World Championship included only three players who were under contract with a club in another country. Only one of the three, Nikolaos Zisis, had played outside the country for more than one season going into the 2010 Worlds (he was preparing to start his second season with Montepaschi Siena of Italy). At the same time, Georgios Printezis was entering his second season at Unicaja of Spain, and Sofoklis Schortsanitis had just left Olympiacos for Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel.
In addition to the players already named above, some other Greek players who have played for significant periods outside the country include:
- Dimos Dikoudis (2003–06, 2008)
- Antonios Fotsis (2001–02, 2003–08)
- Mihalis Kakiouzis (2002–09, 2010–11)
- Lazaros Papadopoulos (2004–09, 2011)
- Theodoros Papaloukas (2002–08)
- Jake Tsakalidis (2000–07)
Among the favorite foreign leagues for Greek players are the Russian PBL (the successor to the now second-level SuperLeague A), Liga ACB in Spain, and the Italian Lega A.
Read more about this topic: Basketball In Greece
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