“The Lost Tapes”, powered by Stoiximan, with EuroLeague, EuroBasket and World Cup champion Kostas Tsartsaris!
“The Lost Tapes”, powered by Stoiximan, host EuroLeague, EuroBasket and World Cup champion Kostas Tsartsaris, the all-time leading rebounder in the history of the Greek Basket League!
Kostas opens up to Vassilis Skountis about him being one of the first athletes to take advantage of the Bosman ruling starting his career in Iceland, playing with Shane Heal and Alphonso Ford, growing up under the guidance of Željko Obradović, his chemistry with Mike Batiste, idolizing Hakeem “The Dream” and Kevin Garnett and his plan to actively help the next generation of basketball athletes as the newly appointed head of the Developmental Program of the Greek Basketball Federation!
Watch the full interview here:
Kostas Tsartsaris is one of the leading modern power forwards of his era, having won 22 titles during his career, 21 of which were with Panathinaikos, in which he played for 11 years, finishing his career in the Greek Basket League as the leader in rebounds in the history of the league.
Born in Veria, Imathia, he started his career in 1993 with G.E. Verias and then played for Filippos Basketball in 1995. In 1997, in order to break his contract with Filippos, he transferred to the Icelandic team Grindavík, winning the Icelandic cup as one of the best rebounders in the Icelandic league. He returned to Greece in 1998 and played in the top Greek Division (A1) with Near East, winning the award of the “Best New Player” before transferring to Peristeri where he played until 2002, participating with the team in the EuroLeague for two seasons.
In the summer of 2002, he signed with Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos, where he stayed until the end of his career in 2013, becoming a member of the club’s decade of great success during which he won 21 titles!
In 2020, he was announced by the EuroLeague as a member of the top ten (team) of Panathinaikos in the 2010-2020 decade, being seventh in public votes with a percentage of 61.94%
Tsartsaris was a member of the senior men’s Greek national basketball team that won the gold medal at the 2005 EuroBasket and the silver medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship. He also played at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2007 EuroBasket, the 2008 Summer Olympics, and the 2010 FIBA World Championship. While with the Greek National team, Tsartsaris participated in 122 games, scoring 807 points (an average of 6.61)
After the end of his career as a professional basketball player in 2013, he decided to get involved in coaching, obtained his First Class coaching diploma and aiming to teach the secrets of the sport to young athletes in order to prepare them for the highest level.
In the summer of 2015, he was appointed as the Director of the Developmental Programme and the Basketball Academies of Panathinaikos, while after the 2021 elections of the Hellenic Basketball Federation he became the head of the development program of the Greek Basketball Federation!
His many accolades include the following:
Icelandic Cup Winner: (1998)
Greek League Best Young Player: (1999)
7× Greek League All-Star: (2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)
10× Greek League Champion: (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013)
8× Greek Cup Winner: (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013)
Greek League Best Five: (2004)
3× Greek Cup MVP: (2006, 2007, 2008)
Greek Cup Finals Top Scorer: (2007)
3× EuroLeague champion: (2007, 2009, 2011)
2× Triple Crown Winner: (2007, 2009)
Greek League all-time leader in total rebounds Greek
6× Acropolis Tournament Champion: (2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010)
2005 EuroBasket: Gold Medal
2006 FIBA World Championship: Silver Medal
2008 FIBA World OQT: Gold Medal
Stay tuned for more episodes of “The Lost Tapes” coming soon…!
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