The Show with 3× EuroLeague champion and Raptors Assistant Coach Mike Batiste!

In the Season 3 premiere of “The Show”, small-ball king Mike Batiste opens up to Vassilis Skountis about his LA roots, the sacrifices he had to make in order to become one of the top centers ever in EuroLeague under Zeljko Obradovic, his longtime success at the European level, the impact that the Giannakopoulos family had in his life beyond basketball, his coaching career path, the Toronto Raptors and much more!

A two-time All-EuroLeague selection, Mike Batiste won three EuroLeague championships in 2007, 2009, and 2011 with the Greek Basket League club Panathinaikos and in 2018, he was named one of the 101 Greats of European Basketball while in 2022 he was inducted into the Greek Basket League Hall of Fame!
Born in Inglewood, California, Batiste played college basketball for Long Beach City College and Arizona State University, leading the Pac-10 conference in blocked shots during the 1997–98 season and being named first-team All-Pac-10 for the 1998–99 season.
After going undrafted he started his European stint with Spirou Charleroi in the Belgian League (2000–01) and Lauretana Biella (2001–02) in the Italian League before joining the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2002–03 NBA season, averaging 6.4 points per game and 3.4 rebounds per game, in 16.6 minutes per game. After being waived by the Los Angeles Clippers in September 2002, Batiste joined the Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos Athens, where he played a major role in a team that won 8 consecutive Greek League championships (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011) and 5 consecutive Greek Cups (2005–2009). With Panathinaikos, he also won the EuroLeague championship, by winning the EuroLeague Final Four, in 2007, 2009, and 2011, and the coveted Triple Crown in both 2007 and 2009, while in 2010, he was named the Greek League MVP.
On July 13, 2012, Batiste signed a one-year contract with the Turkish Super League team Fenerbahçe Ülker where he won the Turkish Cup before returning next season to Panathinaikos where he retired from playing professional basketball, at the end of the 2013–14 season.

Following his professional basketball career, Batiste began a career working as a basketball coach, first with the Canton Charge of the NBA G League and then as a player development assistant for the Brooklyn Nets, before joining as an assistant coach the Charlotte Hornets, the Orlando Magic, the Washington Wizards, the Houston Rockets and the Toronto Raptors where he remains up to this day.

His many accolades include the following:

• 9× Greek League Champion: (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014)
• 7× Greek Cup Winner: (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014)
• 6× Greek League All-Star (2005, 2006, 2008–2011)
• 3× All-Greek League Second Team: (2005, 2006, 2008)
• 2× EuroLeague MVP of the Week: 2005–06 (Regular Season, Week 10), 2008–09 (Top 16, Week 6)
• EuroLeague MVP of the Month: (November 2006)
• 3× EuroLeague Champion: (2007, 2009, 2011)
• 5× Greek League Best Five: (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012)
• 2× Triple Crown Winner: (2007, 2009)
• Greek League MVP: (2010)
• 2× Greek League Finals MVP: (2010, 2011)
• All-EuroLeague First Team: (2011)
• EuroLeague Finals Top Scorer: (2011)
• All-EuroLeague Second Team: (2012)
• Turkish Cup Winner: 2013
• 101 Greats of European Basketball: (2018)
• Greek Basket League Hall of Fame: (2022)

Stay tuned for more episodes from “The Show” by Trace ‘n Chase coming soon…!

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