By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net

This is something much more than a simple…. “return” of a player to one of his previous clubs, like the ones we see very often. For Kostas Papanikolaou, it is something like a homecoming. After all, Olympiacos is the place where he incredibly evolved as a person and a baller. The team with which he conquered Europe, winning back to back Euroleagues in 2012 and 2013.

Eurohoops does a flash backward to the most memorable moments of the Greek small forward with the Reds, emphasizing on their importance for Olympiacos, but mainly, to what they meant for Kostas Papanikolaou himself. After all, they all had an enormous impact on the international player’s progress, since with each and every of the following games, “Pap” added more and more words to his own pages of brilliance in the Euroleague History book.

1. The Breakthrough

Before the 2010 – 2011 season had started, Olympiacos had decided to not renew the most expensive contract in the team, the one of American small forward Josh Childress. Apart from the financial reasons behind this decision, the club wanted to fully trust its biggest investment for the future: Kostas Papanikolaou. The 20 year old, then, Papanikolaou would be a starting small forward in the squad, his playing time would be increased and, subsequently, he would be called to undertake even more responsibilities than before. That was the plan of the club and coach Dusan Ivkovic.
Many hoped but few actually knew that it was only a matter of time until the youngster would hear the fans of his team sing his name rhythmically.

The third game of the Euroleague Regular Season against Unicaja Malaga was quite important for many reasons. First of all, it was a “must win” situation for Olympiacos that wanted to react after the defeat in Germany, against Bamberg. Second, it was a home game, so victory for the Reds was a necessity. But now, more than 5 years later, this match is remembered by basketball fans because of one single fact that overshadows all the rest: It was “Kostas Papanikolaous’ breakthrough game in Euroleague”.

Don’t look at the final score by which Olympiacos won the day and think something like “oh so he played like in a game which his team won so easily. Big deal”. Actually, it was Papanikolaou that immediately transformed what could have been a dangerous battle, into a walk through the park. His fantastic first half and his buzzer beating 3 point shot in it, gave his team a big early lead, from which Unicaja Malaga could not hope to come back, despite some certain attempts afterwards. Pap scored 17 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in this game. Of course, the best were yet to come…