By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
The five remaining spots in the All-25 EuroLeague Team were covered by Rudy Fernandez, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Shane Larkin, Manu Ginobili, and Kostas Sloukas.
Euroleague Basketball announced the final entries on Tuesday.
From Nando De Colo, Sergio Llull, Ramunas Siskauskas, Vassilis Spanoulis, and Nikola Vujcic on February 25, to Vasilije Micic, Dimitris Diamantidis, Mike James, Anthony Parker, and Sergio Rodriguez on March 4, Luka Doncic, Milos Teodosic, Dejan Bodiroga, Georgios Printezis, and Walter Tavares on March 11, and Mike Batiste, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kyle Hines, Juan Carlos Navarro, and Theo Papaloukas on March 18, the list of honorees is now complete.
Per the press release: “All 25 members of the All-25 EuroLeague Team are now known as Rudy Fernandez, Saras Jasikevicius, Shane Larkin, Manu Ginobili and Kostas Sloukas have been voted among the 25 greatest players in the history of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
These legends complete an all-star group that also contains Luka Doncic, Milos Teodosic, Dejan Bodiroga, Georgios Printezis, Walter Tavares, Dimitris Diamantidis, Mike James, Vasilije Micic, Anthony Parker, Sergio Rodriguez, Nando De Colo, Sergio Llull, Ramunas Siskauskas, Vassilis Spanoulis, Nikola Vujcic, Mike Batiste, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kyle Hines, Juan Carlos Navarro and Theo Papaloukas.
The selection process for the All-25 EuroLeague Team combined the votes of EuroLeague head coaches who had won a championship, past All-Decade Team members and MVPs, media representatives and fans. The coaches and playing greats each made up 40% of the final vote, and the media and fans were 10% each.
Shane Larkin
A dynamic guard who has helped change the EuroLeague landscape, Shane Larkin has never stopped thrilling basketball fans across the continent with his breathtaking performances. Larkin is currently in his seventh season with Anadolu Efes Istanbul, the club he helped lead to back-to-back EuroLeague titles and another championship game appearance. In addition to the trophies and personal accolades, which include two All-EuroLeague selections and three monthly MVP awards, Larkin has left a lasting legacy in the competition with his individual performances along the way.
Often unguardable as he pairs his explosiveness when going to the rim with unlimited shooting range, Larkin has dominated games like no other player in the EuroLeague this century since making his competition debut with Baskonia in 2016-17. Testament to that are his record 18 MVP of the Round honors, including an unprecedented four in a row in January 2020. Larkin is the only player in competition history who twice scored at least 40 points and twice made at least 10 triples. He also set a Final Four single-game record when he accumulated a 43 PIR in the 2019 semifinal win over Fenerbahce.
Manu Ginobili
His time in the EuroLeague was short, but what an impact Manu Ginobili made. The Argentine was a major part of the legendary Virtus Segafredo Bologna side that became the first EuroLeague champion in 2001, averaging 15.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.6 steals in the EuroLeague Finals as the Italian giant downed Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 3-2 in a five-game series. His performances in that series – and the fact he scored more points than anyone else – saw him named as the EuroLeague Finals MVP.
The next season, Ginobili led the EuroLeague in steals and was named to the 2001-02 All-EuroLeague First Team as Virtus made it back to the title decider, this time played as a one-legged championship game. While his team ended up losing to Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens, Ginobili stood out by posting game-high totals of 27 points and a 34 PIR. That ended up being his final appearance in the EuroLeague, but the Argentinian guard finished with career averages of 15.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.8 steals in 44 games, having played an important role as one of the competition’s first star players.
Rudy Fernandez
Few players have made such a big impact in the EuroLeague at such a young age as Rudy Fernandez, who averaged 15.8 points for Joventut Badalona in his rookie season as he took home the 2006-07 EuroLeague Rising Star award. The NBA lockout in 2011 allowed Rudy to return for his second campaign in the EuroLeague, playing the first eight games of the 2011-12 season with Real Madrid, but that stint lit the fuse for what would become a lasting relationship. In the summer of 2012, the Spaniard signed for Los Blancos and stayed there for a further 12 seasons, winning the EuroLeague championship in 2015, 2018 and 2023.
A legendary figure among Real Madrid fans, Fernandez was named to the All-EuroLeague First Team in back-to-back seasons, in 2012-13 and 2013-14, before being voted to the All-EuroLeague Second Team in 2014-15. The do-it-all forward, who ranks joint fifth all-time in threes made (594) and third in steals (367), was a staple of the Real Madrid side that reasserted the club’s dominance in European basketball, with Los Blancos reaching eight Final Fours during his time at the club.
Kostas Sloukas
When the lights shine the brightest, Kostas Sloukas really comes into his own. A four-time EuroLeague champion, the Greek guard is just the second player in competition history to have lifted the EuroLeague trophy with three different clubs (Olympiacos Piraeus 2012, 2013; Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 2017; Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens 2024). Sloukas has made 20 appearances at the Final Four, the joint most all-time, and ranks in the top three in points (191, third), assists (67, third) and PIR (203, first) at European basketball’s showpiece event. Whether it has been with Olympiacos, Fenerbahce or Panathinaikos, Sloukas has put his fingerprints all over the Final Four.
For his career, Sloukas ranks eighth all-time in points scored (3,963), third in assists (1,843), and fourth in accumulated PIR (4,953). He spent eight EuroLeague seasons with Olympiacos across two spells, sandwiched between five campaigns with Fenerbahce, but his switch from the Reds to Panathinaikos in the summer of 2023 stunned the entire basketball world. It ended up providing dividends for Sloukas, who played an instrumental role – particularly as the Final Four MVP – in ending the Greens’ 13-year wait to become European champion.
Saras Jasikevicius
A charismatic point guard with an off-the-charts basketball IQ, Saras Jasikevicius was one of the first superstars in the EuroLeague before becoming a successful head coach. Jasikevicius remains the only player to have won three consecutive EuroLeague titles this century. He helped FC Barcelona to win its first EuroLeague crown in 2003, then after moving to Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, where he led arguably one of the best teams in the competition history, he raised back-to-back EuroLeague titles in 2004 and 2005.
The Lithuanian guard was named to the 2003-04 and 2004-05 All-EuroLeague First Team and earned 2005 Final Four MVP honors, getting 22 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists in the championship game against Baskonia. Jasikevicius added a fourth EuroLeague title with Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens in 2009, becoming the first-ever player in European basketball history to win the EuroLeague with three different teams. Saras went on to play for Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul and Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius, then had a second stint with both Barcelona and Panathinaikos before finishing his career with Zalgiris Kaunas. Always ambitious, Jasikevicius set the bar high when it came to elite playmakers.”