Vassilis Toliopoulos

Vassilis "Billy" Toliopoulos (alternative spellings: Vasilis, Vasileios) (Greek: Βασίλης "Μπίλλυ" Τολιόπουλος; born 15 June 1996), nicknamed "Pistoliopoulos", is a Greek professional basketball player and the team captain for Aris of the Greek Basketball League (GBL) and the EuroCup. He is a 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) tall combo guard.

Vassilis Toliopoulos
Βασίλης Τολιόπουλος

No. 4 – Aris Thessaloniki
Position	Shooting guard / Point guard
League	GBL EuroCup
Personal information
Born	(1996-06-15) 15 June 1996 (age 28) Athens, Greece
Listed height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight	190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
Playing career	2013–present
Career history
2013–2014	Ikaros Chalkidas
2014–2015	Kolossos Rodou
2015–2019	Olympiacos
2019	Aris Thessaloniki
2019–2021	AEK Athens
2020–2021	→ Ionikos Nikaias
2021–2022	PAOK Thessaloniki
2022–2023	Aris Thessaloniki
2023	Boulazac
2023–present	Aris Thessaloniki
Career highlights and awards
Greek League champion (2016) Greek Cup winner (2020) 2× All-Greek League Second Team (2023, 2024) Greek League Most Improved Player (2024) 2× Greek League All-Star (2022, 2023)
Medals Men's Basketball Representing  Greece FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship B 2016 Greece Under-20

Youth career

Toliopoulos played from a young age with the youth teams of the Greek club Panionios Athens, before he started his pro career with Ikaros Chalkidas.

Professional career

Toliopoulos began his professional career with the Greek League club Ikaros Chalkidas,^[1] during the 2013–14 season. In 2014, he moved to the Greek club Kolossos Rodou.^[2] In the summer of 2015, he joined the Greek EuroLeague club Olympiacos Piraeus, when he signed a 4-year contract with the club.^[3]

Toliopoulos moved to the Greek club Aris Thessaloniki, in early 2019. On 4 July 2019, he signed a four-year contract with the Greek club AEK Athens.^[4] On 31 August 2020, Toliopoulos was loaned by AEK to the Greek club Ionikos Nikaias, for the 2020–21 season.^[5] He averaged 11.6 points and 3.5 assists per game in the Greek Basket League with Ionikos, during the 2020–21 season.

On 29 June 2021, Toliopoulos signed a two-year (1+1) contract with the Greek club PAOK Thessaloniki. In 23 Greek Basket League games played during the 2021–22 season, he averaged 6.3 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2 assists, while playing in around 15 minutes per contest. Additionally, in 8 FIBA BCL games played, he averaged 8.3 points and 3.3 assists per game. On July 1, 2022, the club opted out of their mutual contract, and Toliopoulos became a free agent.

On 6 July 2022, Toliopoulos returned to Aris Thessaloniki. In 22 domestic Greek Basket League games played in the 2022–2023 season, he averaged 12.8 points, 2.3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1.5 steals per game, while playing around 29 minutes per contest. Toliopoulos also achieved a career-high of 37 points in a game against Peristeri Athens. On 22 April 2023, Toliopoulos moved to French 2nd Division club Boulazac Dordogne, for the remainder of the 2022–23 season. On 23 June 2023, he returned to Aris, after he renewed his contract with the club for another season.

During the 2023–2024 season, Toliopoulos averaged 13.2 points per contest, in 32 national domestic league matches, as well as 14.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game, in 17 EuroCup games played. On 14 June 2024, despite interest from many foreign clubs, Toliopoulos signed a new contract extension with Aris.^[6]

National team career

Greek junior national team

Toliopoulos played at the 2012 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship, the 2013 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, and the 2014 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship with the junior national teams of Greece. He also played at the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Cup, and the 2nd division 2016 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship Division B, where he won a bronze medal.

Greek senior national team

Toliopoulos has been a member of the senior men's Greek national team. He played with Greece at the 2022 FIBA EuroBasket qualifiers, the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers, the 2025 FIBA EuroBasket qualifiers, and the 2024 Piraeus FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, where he helped Greece qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics, for the first time since 2008. During the tournament, he was mostly a replacement, but due to his status as a lethal shooter, he quickly became a fan favorite, ending the tournament with a 8.3 point average. During the preliminary stage of the actual tournament, he became a game changer for the national team, because despite the losses in the first two games against Canada and Spain, Toliopoulos helped Greece's hopes for a comeback by making several three pointers in each game. In the final group stage game against Australia, where the national team won and qualified for the knockout stage of the tournament, he was less prolific from the three point line, but still proved to be extremely helpful for the national team, by scoring 14 points, all in crucial moments.

Style of play

Toliopoulos' childhood idol was the former Greek basketball player Vassilis Spanoulis^[7] and his style of play perfectly captures that.

Career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	PIR	Performance Index Rating
Bold	Career high

EuroCup

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG	PIR
2023–24	Aris	17	12	24.1	.433	.364	.919	2.4	3.6	.8	.1	14.4	12.6

Domestic Leagues

Regular season

Note: Only games in the primary domestic competitions are included. Therefore, games in cup or European competitions are left out.

Year	Team	League	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2018–19	Olympiacos	GBL	5	4.0	.375	.167	-	.2	.6	0	0	1.4
2018–19	Aris	GBL	15	19.0	.358	.342	.722	1.5	1.5	.5	0	7.7
2022–23	Aris	GBL	22	28.7	.478	.322	.84	4.0	2.3	1.5	0.1	12.8

Awards and accomplishments

Pro career

• Greek League Champion: (2016)
• Greek Cup Winner: (2020)
• 2× Greek League All-Star: (2022, 2023)

Greek junior national team

• 2016 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship Division B:  Bronze

References

1. Ίκαρος Χαλκίδας: Τολιόπουλος τετραετίας (in Greek)
2. Στον Κολοσσό ο Τολιόπουλος (in Greek)
3. Olympiacos inks point guard Toliopoulos long term.
4. "Deal with Toliopoulos". aekbc.gr. Online. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
5. "AEK Athens officially loans Vasilis Toliopoulos to Ionikos BC Hellenic Coin". Sportando. August 31, 2020. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
6. Aris lands Mantzoukas and Hapoel Tel Aviv adds Yaacov.
7. Ο Βασίλης Τολιόπουλος στο SPORT24: "Με πιάνει δέος όταν μοιράζομαι το παρκέ με τον κόουτς Σπανούλη" (in Greek).

External links

• Vasileios Toliopoulos at FIBA (archive)
• Vasileios Toliopoulos at fibaeurope.com
• Vasileios Toliopoulos at proballers.com
• Vasileios Toliopoulos at eurobasket.com
• Vasileios Toliopoulos at Olympics.com
• Vassilis Toliopoulos international stats at Basketball-Reference.com
• Vassilis Toliopoulos at euroleague.net
• Vasilis Toliopoulos at realgm.com
• Vasilis Toliopoulos at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics
• Profile at basket.gr (in Greek)
• Profile at esake.gr (in Greek)