The name Spanolis is relatively unfamiliar to most fans, but for those who pay attention to European basketball and Yao Ming, there should be an impression, he and Yao Ming have been teammates for a year, originally domestic fans thought that he was the most suitable point guard for Yao Ming, who knew that after a short period of time and Yao Ming was a teammate for a year, he hastily returned to European basketball after a year of NBA career.
He is an icon for Doncic, who currently plays for the Dallas Mavericks, wearing the number 7 shirt while playing in Europe, just like Spanolis. In Dallas, the number 77 jersey was chosen in tribute to Spanolis Doncic. Spanolis is a Greek professional basketball player who plays point guard/point guard and is a European basketball legend. As one of the greatest stars in the history of European basketball, he is the all-time total scorer and total assists king in the history of the Champions League.
Start your career
Vaslis Spanolis began his basketball career in the Greek League in 1999. In his early years, he played for Larissa and Marossi in Athens, Greece, where he played as the team's organising defender. He soon conquered the coach with his skills and became the core of the team, becoming one of the youngest and most promising organizational defenders in Europe. Later, Spanolis transferred to the Greek giants Panathinaikos and became the core of the team, helping Panathinaikos win the Europa League championship that year.
International performance
In 2004, Spahn was selected as a member of the Greek Olympic men's basketball team for his outstanding performance, and in August 2006, he participated in the 2006 World Men's Basketball Championship in Japan. He scored a world championship-high 105 points as the sixth man, ranking second in the team in playing time, and has unlimited firing rights. In the face of the star-studded American Dream Team, he single-handedly blocked the Back attack of the American Team with a three-pointer at the last moment, making the American Team fold the World Championships and miss the gold medal. Spanolis's sharp breakthrough and projection made the star-studded American team stars at the time ashamed of themselves, helping Greece create a myth to win the honor of runner-up at the World Championships.
Short NBA career
The Dallas Mavericks selected Spanolis with the 21st pick in the second round of the 2004 NBA Draft, and was subsequently moved to Houston, officially landing in the NBA in 2006, becoming the first player in Greece to land in the NBA. The arrival of "European Kobe" has made the Media and fans in Houston rejoice that there is finally a point guard who can smoothly hand over the ball to Yao Ming. However, due to the tactical concept of head coach Van Gundy, the conservative Van Gundy paid more attention to defense, so that his breakthrough, passing and projection ability did not get the right play, so the defensively weak Spanolis only averaged 8.8 minutes of playing time per game, sitting on the cold bench in Houston for a whole year, and finally Panolis hastily ended his short and depressed NBA career.
Return to European basketball
Spanolis, who has returned to European basketball, has returned to his king-level performances. Here his style and technique fit the team perfectly, and he began his basketball path like a fish. Throughout his career, he has won all the honors he deserves in Europe, and can be described as a big winner in European basketball. On June 26, 2021, at the age of 39, he chose to announce his retirement on social media, ending his 22-year career and ending a generation of European basketball passes.