Legendary Greek guard and former EuroLeague MVP Theo Papaloukas sits down with Vassilis Skountis in another episode of “The Show”. He opens up about his illustrious career and his rise from the lower divisions of Greece to the biggest basketball stage, the iconic win against Team USA in the 2006 FIBA World Championship, his many former teammates and his thoughts on the current state of the game as the founder of Eurohoops Academy!

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[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfodLnWSNKU[/embedyt]

Theo Papaloukas, a 4x All-EuroLeague selection, a member of the EuroLeague 2000–10 All-Decade Team and one of the 50 greatest EuroLeague players of all time was a revolutionary figure in basketball with an uncanny feel for the game, symbolizing the rise of European basketball in the new millennium. He started his career in 1995, with his local club of Ampelokipoi, before being transferred two years later to Dafni, and then to Panionios in 1999.
“The Show” with revolutionary guard and EuroLeague & EuroBasket champion Theo Papaloukas! His performances with the latter earned him a transfer to EuroLeague powerhouse Olympiacos, where in 2002, he won his first title, the Greek Cup. A year later, he moved to Moscow for CSKA, the club that he would help to regain its past glory. After making a minimal impact during his first two seasons in the Russian capital, he evolved into a major contributor to CSKA’s success, playing as a sixth man in the 2004–05 season, both in the EuroLeague and the Russian Super League A.
In 2006, Papaloukas led CSKA to their first EuroLeague title in thirty-five years, thus earning an All-EuroLeague First Team selection and the EuroLeague Final Four MVP award in the process. The following year, he cemented his status as a EuroLeague competition icon, after being named the EuroLeague MVP, before falling short of a second straight EuroLeague title in the championship’s final against Panathinaikos. In 2008, he won his second EuroLeague title with CSKA, in what would be his last year in Moscow as the next summer he returned to Olympiacos, reaching another two EuroLeague Final Fours, giving him a then record of eight consecutive EuroLeague Final Four appearances, a record he shared at the time with his former teammate J.R. Holden.
Papaloukas helped lead the Greece men’s national basketball team to the 2005 EuroBasket title, and to a silver medal in the 2006 FIBA World Championship.
After retiring from professional basketball he has focused on nourishing the next generation of young athletes, establishing Eurohoops Academy, one of the elite basketball programs in Greece!