Panionios B.C.

Main article: Panionios G.S.S.

Panionios B.C. (Greek: Πανιώνιος KAE), known in European competitions as Panionios Athens^[1] is the Greek professional basketball club that is based in Nea Smyrni, and that plays its home games in Palaio Faliro, Greece. The club is also widely known as Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, or Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis, which is the Pan-Ionian Gymnastic Club of Smyrna. This is usually abbreviated to the club name of Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ. Panionios B.C. is the basketball department of the Panionios Gymnastic Club that is based in Nea Smyrni.

Panionios BC
Nickname	Historic Blue–Reds Panthers
Leagues	Greek Basket League Greek Cup
Founded	1919
History	Panionios G.S.S. (1919–present)
Arena	Glyfada Makis Liougas Sportshall
Capacity	3,232
Location	Glyfada, Greece
Team colors	Red and Blue
President	Thodoris Mikropoulos, Panagiotis Iliadis
Team manager	Fanis Christodoulou
Head coach	Aris Lykogiannis
Championships	Greek Cup (1)
Retired numbers	8, 4
Website	pgssbc.gr
Home Away

Panionios B.C. has been a long-time club of the top-tier level Greek Basket League, which is considered one of the best national domestic basketball leagues in Europe. Panionios B.C. has also competed in the European-wide top-tier level EuroLeague. For sponsorship reasons, the club has also been known as Panionios On Telecoms and Panionios Forthnet, as well as several other sponsorship names.

Some of the well-known players that have played with the club over the years have included: Faidon Matthaiou, Takis Koroneos, Makis Dendrinos, Dimitris Fosses, Kostas Missas, Fanis Christodoulou, Giannis Giannoulis, Boban Janković, P. J. Brown, Panagiotis Giannakis, Henry Turner, Thurl Bailey, Travis Mays, Žarko Paspalj, Byron Dinkins, Mitchell Wiggins, Theo Papaloukas, Jure Zdovc, Laurent Sciarra, Nikos Chatzis, Georgios Sigalas, Angelos Koronios, Dimos Dikoudis, Nikos Oikonomou, Georgios Diamantopoulos, Stratos Perperoglou, Michalis Pelekanos, Ender Arslan, Miloš Vujanić, Alex Stepheson, Errick McCollum, and Tyrese Rice, among others.

Logos

• 
  (The official logo of Panionios' parent club.)
• 
  (The official logo of Panionios' basketball club.)

History

Early years

The basketball clubs' parent athletic union, the Panionios Gymnastic Club, was founded in 1890, in İzmir, Ottoman Empire (located today in the modern country of Turkey), making it one of the oldest sporting clubs in Europe. The sporting clubs' basketball department was founded in 1919. After the Greek military suffered defeat in the Greco-Turkish War in 1922, the club was transferred to the Athenian suburb of Nea Smyrni, in Greece.

The basketball department, Panionios B.C., began participation in the Greek Basket League starting in the 1928–29 season, and finished in second place in the league that year. Panionios B.C. finished in third place in the league the next year.

Rise of the club to prominence in Greek basketball

Panionios B.C. competed in the top-tier Greek basketball league, in consecutive years, from the 1981–82 season until the 2014–15 season. In the 1986–87 season, Panionios played in the championship finals series of the Greek League, losing out to Aris, and their two Greek basketball legends Nikos Galis and Panagiotis Giannakis (Giannakis would later go on to play for Panionios). In 1991, led by Fanis Christodoulou, the team won the Greek Cup title, by defeating PAOK by a score of 73–70. Panionios also played in the finals game of the Greek Cup in both 1977 and 1995. Ιn the 1993–94 season, after an exciting run in the European 3rd-tier level FIBA Korać Cup, and after scoring a couple of wins against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the quarterfinals, Panionios reached the semifinals, and played against PAOK Bravo. This marked the first civil conflict between Greek basketball clubs in European-wide competitions, ever.

The club finished in 3rd place in the Greek League in the 1995–96 season, under their head coach at the time, Dušan Ivković, and thus qualified to the EuroLeague for the 1996–97 season. In the FIBA EuroLeague 1996–97 season, the team was coached by Efthimis Kioumourtzoglou. Two years later, in 1999, Panionios once again reached the semifinals of the FIBA Korać Cup, where they were again eliminated, this time from the super favorites of the tournament, FC Barcelona, which featured Sasha Djordjević.

In the Greek League 2007–08 season, under the ownership of Elias Lianos, the founder of Proton Bank, Panionios, led by Ivan Zoroski, Giannis Kalampokis, and charismatic head coach Nenad Marković, finished in 3rd place in the Greek League. They came back from an 0–2 series deficit in the deciding best-of-five league third-place series against Maroussi, and won the series 3–2. That secured the team a place in the EuroLeague competition for the EuroLeague 2008–09 season. This marked the club's first EuroLeague appearance in more than a decade.^[2]

Decline of the club

After the 2014–15 season, Panionios was relegated to the Greek 2nd Division, after 33 consecutive seasons with a presence in the top-tier level Greek Basket League.^[3] For the 2015–16 season, Panionios preferred to play in the third-tier of Greece, the semi-pro level Greek B Basket League, due to financial difficulties.^[4] They were promoted up to the Greek 2nd Division for the 2016–17 season.

They won the Greek 2nd Division title of the 2016–17 season, and were promoted back up to the top-tier level league, for the 2017–18 season. Due to financial difficulties, Panionios was demoted down to the Greek 3rd Division, prior to the 2020–21 season.

Panionios in international competitions

Main article: Panionios B.C. in international competitions

Arenas

Helliniko Olympic Arena

Panionios played its domestic Greek League home games at "Artakis" Nea Smyrni Indoor Hall, a now demolished 1,832-seat arena that was owned by the Nea Smyrni municipality. They used the arena from its opening in 1979 to 2006, and from 2009 to its close in 2019.^[5] From 2006 to 2009, the club used the Helliniko Olympic Arena, which was built for the 2004 Summer Olympics, and has a capacity of 15,000, as its home arena.^[6] At various times, the club has also used the National Athletic Center Glyfada Makis Liougas, which has a capacity of 3,232.^[7]

In 2019, the club moved into the Sofia Befon Palaio Faliro Indoor Hall for the 2019–20 season.^[8][9][10] The arena seats 1,204 people.^[11] It was opened in 2017.

The municipality of Nea Smyrni has begun the construction of a new modern-style multi-use indoor arena, called the Boban Janković Indoor Hall, named after Boban Janković, which is being built on the same location as the old Nea Smyrni Indoor Hall. The new arena was scheduled to open for the 2022–23 season but after many delays the stadium is still unfinished. The club will play at a smaller arena in Nea Smyrni neighborhood, Andreas Varikas Indoor Hall, until its new arena is completed.

Retired numbers

^[12]

Panionios B.C. retired numbers
N°	Nat.	Player	Position	Tenure
4		Fanis Christodoulou	SF/PF	1983–1997
8		Boban Janković	SF	1992–1993

Roster

Current roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Panionios roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age G 1 Woolridge, Ryan 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 28 – (1996-11-16)16 November 1996 G 3 Milentigievits, Iakovos 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 27 – (1997-01-11)11 January 1997 G 6 Ray, Kendrick 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 85 kg (187 lb) 30 – (1994-01-26)26 January 1994 F/C 7 Tsalmpouris, Georgios 2.18 m (7 ft 2 in) 109 kg (240 lb) 28 – (1996-06-22)22 June 1996 PF 12 Chougkaz, Robert 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 24 – (2000-10-04)4 October 2000 C 14 Kaklamanakis, Dimitris 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 95 kg (209 lb) 30 – (1994-01-25)25 January 1994 F/C 15 Davis, Devin 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 29 – (1995-05-29)29 May 1995 SF 19 Saloustros, Christos  2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 34 – (1990-03-29)29 March 1990 G/F 25 Brown, Rion 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 98 kg (216 lb) 33 – (1991-09-03)3 September 1991 PG 30 Cannady, Devin 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 83 kg (183 lb) 28 – (1996-05-21)21 May 1996 C 35 Nnoko, Landry 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 113 kg (249 lb) 30 – (1994-04-09)9 April 1994 G/F 55 Dimitrakopoulos, Iasonas 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 24 – (2000-06-11)11 June 2000 PG 88 Gikas, Nikos (C) 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) 81 kg (179 lb) 34 – (1990-11-22)22 November 1990	Head coach Aris Lykogiannis Assistant coach(es) Dimitrios Tsaldaris Spyros Karadimas Konstantinos Limnaios Athletic trainer(s) Stratos Tsampis Team Manager Giannis Dalles Team Captain Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 17 December 2024

Depth chart

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2	Bench 3
C	Landry Nnoko	Dimitris Kaklamanakis
PF	Devin Davis	Georgios Tsalmpouris	Robert Chougkaz
SF	Rion Brown	Kendrick Ray	Iasonas Dimitrakopoulos	Christos Saloustros
SG	Ryan Woolridge	Iakovos Milentigievits
PG	Devin Cannady	Nikos Gkikas

Honours and titles

Domestic competitions

• Greek League

Runners-up (1): 1986–87

• Greek Cup

Winners (1): 1990–91

Runners-up (2): 1976–77, 1994–95

• Greek 2nd Division (1961–1986) / Greek 2nd Division (1986–present)

Winners (3): 1973–74, 1980–81, 2016–17

Runners-up (1): 2023-24

• Greek 3rd Division

Winners (1): 2015–16

• Greek UNICEF Basketball Cup

Winners (2): 2022–23, 2023–24

European competitions

• FIBA Korać Cup

Semifinalist (2): 1993–94, 1998–99

Other competitions

• Athens, Greece Tournament

Winners (1): 2011

International record

Main article: Panionios B.C. in international competitions

Season	Achievement	Notes
Saporta Cup
2001–02	Quarter-finals	eliminated by Anwil Włocławek, 83–74 (W) in Athens and 59–75 (L) in Włocławek
Korać Cup
1989–90	Quarter-finals	eliminated by CSKA Moscow, 107–85 (W) in Athens and 53–106 (L) in Moscow
1992–93	Quarter-finals	eliminated by Philips Milano, 78–79 (L) in Athens and 74–81 (L) in Milan
1993–94	Semi-finals	eliminated by PAOK Bravo, 83–85 (L) in Athens and 64–82 (L) in Thessaloniki
1994–95	Quarter-finals	eliminated by Stefanel Milano, 59–73 (L) in Milan and 82–73 (L) in Athens
1998–99	Semi-finals	eliminated by FC Barcelona, 71–80 (L) in Athens and 61–91 (L) in Barcelona
EuroChallenge
2006–07	Quarter-finals	eliminated 2-1 by Akasvayu Girona, 68–76 (L) in Girona, 82–73 (W) in Athens and 49–83 (L) in Girona

Season by season results

Season	Tier	League	Pos.	W–L	Greek Cup	European competitions
2005–06	1	Basket League	8th		Round of 16
2006–07	1	Basket League	4th		Round of 16	3 FIBA EuroCup	QF	8–7
2007–08	1	Basket League	3rd		Quarterfinals	2 ULEB Cup	L32	6–6
2008–09	1	Basket League	6th		Semifinals	1 Euroleague	RS	3–7
2009–10	1	Basket League	8th		Quarterfinals
2010–11	1	Basket League	9th		Round of 16
2011–12	1	Basket League	3rd		Round of 16
2012–13	1	Basket League	3rd		Quarterfinalist	2 Eurocup	RS	2–4
2013–14	1	Basket League	4th		Semifinalist	2 Eurocup	L32	6–10
2014–15	1	Basket League	14th		Quarterfinalist
2015–16	3	B Basket League	1st
2016–17	2	A2 Basket League	1st	26–4
2017–18	1	Basket League	12th	7–19
2018–19	1	Basket League	10th	8–18
2019–20	1	Basket League	12th	6–14

Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Criteria
To appear in this section a player must have either: Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

Greece:

• Dimitris Agravanis
• Vangelis Angelou
• Ioannis Athanasoulas
• Ioannis Athinaiou
• Nikos Barlos
• Marios Batis
• Georgios Bogris
• Nikos Chatzis
• Christos Christodoulou
• Fanis Christodoulou
• Makis Dendrinos
• Georgios Diamantopoulos
• Dimos Dikoudis
• Makis Dreliozis
• Dimitris Fosses
• Georgios Gasparis
• Ioannis Georgallis
• Panagiotis Giannakis
• Charis Giannopoulos
• Alexi Giannoulias
• Giannis Giannoulis
• Savvas Iliadis
• - Vlado Janković
• Panagiotis Kafkis
• Georgios Kalaitzis
• Giannis Kalampokis
• Andreas Kanonidis
• Georgios Karagkoutis
• Vassilis Kavvadas
• Vassilis Kikilias
• Takis Koroneos
• Angelos Koronios
• Alexis Kyritsis
• Georgios Limniatis
• Nikos Linardos
• Antonis Mantzaris
• Dimitris Marmarinos
• Faidon Matthaiou
• Dimitris Mavroeidis
• Kostas Missas
• Nikos Oikonomou
• - George Papadakos
• Theo Papaloukas
• Dimitris Papanikolaou
• - Nikos Pappas
• Michalis Pelekanos
• Stratos Perperoglou
• Nondas Papantoniou
• Vangelis Sakellariou
• - Dušan Šakota
• Christos Saloustros
• Zisis Sarikopoulos
• Georgios Sigalas
• Alexandros Sigkounas
• Ioannis Sioutis
• Vangelis Sklavos
• Gaios Skordilis
• Dimitris Stamatis
• Tzanis Stavrakopoulos
• Vassilis Symtsak
• Christos Tapoutos
• Dimitris Verginis
• Vassilis Xanthopoulos

Europe:

• Stephen Arigbabu
• Ender Arslan
• Dejan Borovnjak
• Branko Cvetković
• Boris Dallo
• Uroš Duvnjak
• Zoran Erceg
• Vassil Evtimov
• Boban Janković
• - Dušan Jelić
• Gintaras Kadžiulis
• Antanas Kavaliauskas
• Dragan Lukovski
• Nenad Marković
• Guy-Marc Michel
• Vladimir Micov
• Goran Nikolić
• Žarko Paspalj
• - Miroslav Pecarski
• - Miroslav Raičević
• - Tyrese Rice
• Joao Santos
• Laurent Sciarra
• Nikoloz Tskitishvili
• Kristaps Valters
• Jure Zdovc

USA:

• William Avery
• Thurl Bailey
• Toby Bailey
• Lonny Baxter
• Davion Berry
• Chris Booker
• P.J. Brown
• Travon Bryant
• T. J. Carter
• Mateen Cleaves
• Jon Diebler
• Byron Dinkins
• Joey Dorsey
• Ruben Douglas
• Muhammad El-Amin
• Luke Hancock
• Antonio Harvey
• Donnell Harvey
• John Hudson
• Andre Hutson
• Chris Jent
• Billy Keys
• Randolph Keys
• Mark Landsberger
• Kevin Langford
• Travis Mays
• Amal McCaskill
• Errick McCollum
• Jeff McInnis
• Gerry McNamara
• Landon Milbourne
• Aaron Miles
• Chris Owens
• Mark Payne
• Gabe Pruitt
• Rod Sellers
• Paul Shirley
• E. J. Singler
• Ed Stokes
• Jimmie Taylor
• Henry Turner
• John Wallace
• Travis Watson
• Mitchell Wiggins
• Kennedy Winston
• Rashad Wright

Rest of Americas:

• - Levon Kendall
• Samardo Samuels

Africa:

• - Chinemelu Elonu

Oceania:

• Brad Newley

Head coaches

Head Coach	Years
Michalis Kyritsis	1982–1983, 1987–1988
Makis Dendrinos	1983–1987, 1997–1998
Vlade Đurović	1988–1993
Kostas Missas	1993–1994, 2002
Dušan Ivković	1994–1996
Efthimis Kioumourtzoglou	1996–1997
Lefteris Subotić	2000–2001
Panagiotis Giannakis	2001–2002
Georgios Kalafatakis	2002–2004, 2017
Memos Ioannou	2004–2006
Nikos Linardos	2006
Luka Pavićević	2006–2007
Minas Gekos	2007
Nenad Marković	2007–2008, 2009–2010
Alex Trifunović	2008–2009
Georgios Bartzokas	2010–2012
Thanasis Skourtopoulos	2012
Ioannis Sfairopoulos	2012–2014
Vangelis Alexandris	2014–2015
Chris Chougaz	2015, 2018
Vangelis Ziagkos	2015–2016, 2017–2018
Nikos Oikonomou	2016–2017, 2018–2019
Vassilis Fragkias	2018–2019
Ioannis Livanos	2019
Linos Gavriel	2019–2020

Top players in games played and points scored in the Greek Basket League (since the 1992–93 season)

Panionios team leaders in games played and points scored, since the Greek Basket League became fully professional, starting with the 1992–93 season.

• Through the 2019–20 season.

Rank	Player	Games Played
1.	Marios Batis	174

Rank	Player	Points Scored
1.	Georgios Diamantopoulos	2,676

See also

• Panionios F.C.
• Panionios G.S.S.

References

1. "Panionios Athens - Welcome to 7DAYS EuroCup". www.eurocupbasketball.com. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
2. "Team Focus: Panionios On Telecoms". Retrieved 21 September 2018.
3. "Έμεινε εκτός Α1 ο Πανιώνιος". star.gr. Retrieved 19 September 2015.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
4. "Στην Α2 το Περιστέρι, στη Β' ο Πανιώνιος". sport-fm.gr. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
5. Κλειστό της Οδού Αρτάκης: Κάτι παραπάνω από ένα γήπεδο (in Greek).
6. "World Stadiums - Stadiums in Greece". www.worldstadiums.com. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
7. "Competition Engine - Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL". www.euroleague.net. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
8. Το κλειστό γήπεδο "Σοφία Μπεφόν" στο Π. Φάληρο θα είναι η νέα έδρα του Πανιωνίου (in Greek).
9. Video από τα εγκαίνια του Κλειστού Γυμναστηρίου ΣΟΦΙΑ ΜΠΕΦΟΝ (long version) (in Greek).
10. Τα εισιτήρια του Πανιώνιου για τον πρώτο αγώνα στο κλειστό Π.Φαλήρου “Σοφία Μπεφόν” (pic) (in Greek).
11. Αυτό είναι το νέο Κλειστό Γήπεδο του Παλαιού Φαλήρου (in Greek).
12. "Οι αριθμοί στις φανέλες των παικτών του Πανιώνιου". Retrieved 21 September 2018.

External links

• Panionios B.C. Official Website (in Greek)
• Eurobasket.com Team Page
• Greek Basket League Team Page
• EuroCup Official Team Page
• Euroleague.net Panionios B.C. Team Profile
• Panionios Panthers Club (in Greek)