By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Early in preparations for the new season, Olympiacos delivered a contract extension for head coach Giorgos Bartzokas.
Bartzokas, 56, extended his contract until the end of the 2025-26 season, the team announced on Friday.
Preparing for a reunion with Tyler Dorsey and monitoring the situation surrounding Sasha Vezenkov, the Reds completed their first offseason move by re-signing the three-time recipient of the Alexander Gomelsky EuroLeague Coach of the Year award. Building a roster to contend for the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and Greece’s Stoiximan Basket League championships is the apparent next step, deeper in the summer.
In the 2023-24 campaign, the team coached by Bartzokas ranked fifth in the Regular Season of the EuroLeague with a 22-12 record. Overcoming the homecourt advantage of fourth-seeded FC Barcelona in five games, the Reds clinched a berth in the Final Four for a third year in a row. Settling for third place marked efforts in Berlin’s Uber Arena.
At the domestic level, Olympiacos won the Greek Cup in February. In the Basket League Playoffs, falling narrowly short in a best-of-five championship series against Panathinaikos Aktor concluded the 2024-25 campaign.
Bartzokas started his second stint with the storied Greek club in 2020. The first spell from 2012 to 2014 was highlighted by lifting the EuroLeague and FIBA Intercontinental Cup trophies in 2013. Besides the 2024 Cup, he guided his side to multiple domestic titles, capturing the league championship, the Cup, and the Super Cup in 2022 and 2023, since his return.