By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
In 2010 the start of the end of Panathinaikos‘ dynasty came when Vassilis Spanoulis decided to move to Olympiacos. In 2023, history repeated itself when Kostas Sloukas took the opposite route and led the Greens to their first EuroLeague title since 2011.
After many twists and turns, the decision of Sloukas to go Green was not only vindicated, but the Greek guard also bet the farm – at least of his reputation – and won it.
Sloukas, currently the 8th leading scorer in EuroLeague’s history and 3rd leading passer, became just the second player after Sarunas Jasikevicius who won the EuroLeague with three different teams, got his first Final Four MVP award and had one of his best EuroLeague games in the final.
It’s a fairy tale ending to the 2023-24 season for him and Panathinaikos, making him de facto the biggest move of last summer, which was not supposed to happen and ended up bringing happiness and bliss to the Greens.
“At, avrat, yunan guard”
If Sloukas had made the last shot in the 2023 final for Olympiacos against Real Madrid, he would probably still wearing red and white. However, it was a common secret that he wasn’t satisfied with his role in the team and wanted more, much like Spanoulis did back in 2010 with Panathinaikos.
On the other hand, coach Giorgos Bartzokas had clarified that he would not change his on-court principles and his game to accommodate Sloukas, and the best-case scenario of him staying with Olympiacos was split to 50%-50% chances.
Neither side backed down and Sloukas had already made inquiries with Fenerbahce being his more than possible destination.
Sloukas had already won the EuroLeague with the Turkish club and thus the phrase “at, avrat, yunan guard” was created. “At, avrat, silah”, which translates to “horse, woman, gun”, is an expression in Turkey about what a man should have to make something out of himself in life.
Thanks to Sloukas, this phrase was changed for Fenerbahce fans to “horse, woman, Greek guard”, underlining the importance of having a Greek guard in the roster, a role filled this year by Nick Calathes. Sloukas had almost completed a deal with Fenerbahce to return to Istanbul, something that Olympiacos knew when the talks between them and the player were stagnant at best.
Panathinaikos tried to approach the player earlier, but Sloukas was not eager to change sides. To be exact, he politely refused to proceed to any negotiations. However, after the talks with Olympiacos collapsed during the first week of July, Dimitris Giannakopoulos made to the Greek guard an offer he couldn’t refuse and in the 11th hour convinced him to play for Panathinaikos and not complete the deal with Fenerbahce.
You can say that the contract presented by Panathinaikos was by far the best offer money-wise and it’s true. Still, Sloukas’ decision was also driven by his desire to prove Olympiacos wrong. And if Olympiacos had the understanding that Sloukas could sign with the Greens, maybe they would have handled his case differently. After all, the roster which Olympiacos was building at the time, clearly had a spot open for Sloukas in the same role he had the previous year.
A fairy tale ending
It’s not easy to go from Olympiacos to Panathinaikos and vice versa, especially when you are the marquee name. Sloukas took upon him the role and during the season he expressed on various occasions his faith about making the right call, even when things were not going his way.
There were doubters, not only coming from Olympiacos but from all over Europe, saying that he was overrated and overpaid.
The overpaid part can’t be justified, because that was the price that Panathinaikos had to pay not only to convince Sloukas to make a move that few players of his profile have made but also to restore faith in the club and in the Ataman project. When Sloukas signed, everyone understood that Panathinaikos was for real and they were going to be contenders, sending the message to fans, opponents, agents, and players.
As for the overrated part, his on-court productivity didn’t change at all. First and foremost he registered his best scoring performance ever (29 points) in Game 2 of the playoffs when Maccabi was already up 1-0 after a road win and he bounced back admirably after scoring just 4 points in the semifinal against Fenerbahce, taking over the final with 28 points and two very important threes that practically dictated the outcome.
At 34 years of age, he had his best EuroLeague Final performance yet, he got his fourth EuroLeague title, while Spanoulis and Diamantidis had three and Theo Papaloukas had two, and next year Sloukas can tie Panathinaikos’ icon Fragkiskos Alvertis who had five in his career
With two years left in his contract, he may even aim to surpass him…