On June 27, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, and in the distant European arena, a legendary player officially bid farewell to the game today - the 39-year-old Greek star and European basketball legend Vasris Spanolis officially announced his retirement today, ending his 21-year-long career.
Spanolis' name is no stranger to many old fans, having briefly played for the Rockets in the 2006-07 season and was a teammate with Yao Ming. However, Spanolis's NBA journey was not smooth, due to the encounter with the coach who did not like to use new players, Van Gundy Jr., Spanolis only played in the Rockets for 1 year, and only played 31 games, averaging 2.7 points, 0.7 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game.
After only a year of trying, Span returned to Europe and never stepped into the NBA game, of course, the failure of the NBA career does not mean that Span is not successful, on the contrary, Span has left a recorded performance in the international arena and the European League.
First of all, from the international arena, in the 2006 Men's Basketball World Championship, the U.S. men's basketball team sent the "Dream Seven Team" composed of Wade, James, Anthony, Paul, and Bosh, aiming to wash away the shame of the loss of gold in 2002 and 2004. This American men's basketball team is definitely not weak, at that time Wade was FMVP, James was MVP second, Anthony was in the top ten of the scoring list, and the three also successfully led the team to advance to the final four with an unbeaten record.
However, in the semifinals, the U.S. men's basketball team "unexpectedly" lost 95-101 to the Greek men's basketball team, when the leader of the Greek men's basketball team was Spanolis, who scored 22 points in that game - there are few in history who can lead the team to beat the U.S. men's basketball team.
In Europe, Spanolis is a legend within a legend.
Spanolis played in the Greek League for most of his career, playing for teams including Panathinakos and Olympiacos, with honors including:
- 7 Greek league titles
- 4 Greek Cup winners
- 3 Greek league MVP
- 3 Greek League FMVP
- 3-time Europa League champion
- 3 European FMVP
- 1 Europa League MVP
- 3 Times Europa League Best Squad First Team
- 5-time Europa League Best Team 2nd Team
It is worth mentioning that Spanolis is still Doncic's idol - Doncic has many idols, but Spanolis is definitely the most special one, and the reason why Doncic wears no. 77 is spanorice.
In Europe, Doncic has always worn the number 7, because the number 7 is Spanolis' number, and later after entering the NBA, because the number 7 has been used, he can only retreat to the second place and choose the number 77.
This was also confirmed in an interview when Doncic first entered the league, when Doncic said: "I grew up watching a European player play, his name is Vasris Spannolis, so I like to wear a number 7 when I play. ”
After Spanolis announced his retirement, Doncic also posted pictures on social media for the first time and said: "Thank you for everything you have done, idol( idol), number 7, full score." ”
Now, the basketball career belonging to Spanolis has officially come to an end, 21 years of career, he has performed quite perfectly in Europe, but unfortunately the NBA trip was not very successful - after the 2006-07 season, the Rockets traded Spann to the Spurs, as we all know, the Spurs are a team that is very good at developing international players, but unfortunately Spann was determined at the time, if he had stayed at that time, maybe the story would be a little different.