# 2018–19 Greek Basket League

The 2018–19 Greek betshop.gr Basket League was the 79th season of the Greek Basket League, the top-tier level professional club basketball league in Greece. The season started on 7 October 2018, and ended on 15 June 2019. Panathinaikos OPAP won the Greek Basket League championship for a record 37th time, after beating Promitheas Patras 3–0 in the Finals.
The season infamously featured a major feud between traditional rivals Panathinaikos and Olympiacos over refereeing decisions in the 2019 Greek Cup semifinals game between the two teams, which eventually culminated in Olympiacos also forfeiting their playoffs. Finally, Olympiacos withdrew from the championship.

## Teams
### Promotion and relegation
#### Relegated from the Greek betshop.gr Basket League 2017–18 season

Koroivos and Trikala Aries were relegated, after finishing in the last two places in the 2017–18 season.

#### Promoted from the A2 Basket League 2017–18 season

The first club that was promoted was Peristeri, which won its third A2 Basket League championship, after finishing with a 29–1 record, in the 2017–18 season. The second team to be promoted was Holargos, as the winners of the promotion play-offs. Holargos defeated Apollon Patras 3–0, in the finals of the play-offs.

### Locations and arenas

| Club | Location | Arena | Capacity | App. |
| AEK | Athens (Marousi) | OAKA Indoor Hall | 19,250 | 62 |
| Aris | Thessaloniki | Alexandrio Melathron | 5,138 | 65 |
| Holargos | Athens (Cholargos) | Antonis Tritsis Indoor Hall | 1,665 | 1 |
| Ifaistos Lemnos | Myrina | Nikos Samaras Indoor Hall | 1,260 | 1 |
| Kolossos H Hotels | Rhodes | Venetoklio Indoor Hall | 1,242 | 13 |
| Kymi | Chalkida | Tasos Kampouris Kanithou Indoor Hall | 1,620 | 3 |
| Lavrio Aegean Cargo | Lavrio | Lavrio Indoor Hall | 1,700 | 4 |
| Olympiacos | Piraeus | Peace and Friendship Stadium | 12,000 | 66 |
| Panathinaikos OPAP | Athens (Marousi) | OAKA Indoor Hall | 19,250 | 69 |
| Panionios | Athens (Nea Smyrni) | Sofia Befon Indoor Hall | 1,204 | 50 |
| PAOK | Thessaloniki (Pylaia) | PAOK Sports Arena | 8,500 | 62 |
| Peristeri Vikos Cola | Athens (Peristeri) | Peristeri Arena | 4,000 | 23 |
| Promitheas Patras | Patras | Dimitris Tofalos Arena | 4,200 | 3 |
| Rethymno Cretan Kings | Rethymno | Melina Merkouri Sports Arena | 1,600 | 9 |

### Personnel and Sponsorship

| Club | Head coach | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Main shirt sponsor |
| AEK | Luca Banchi | Dušan Šakota | Fila | Betshop.gr |
| Aris | Ioannis Kastritis | Lefteris Bochoridis | Spalding | - |
| Holargos | Aris Lykogiannis | Toarlyn Fitzpatrick | BillyBro | BoConcept |
| Ifaistos Limnou | Sotiris Manolopoulos | Sotirios Manolopoulos | GSA Sport | - |
| Kolossos H Hotels | Stergios Koufos | Ioannis Georgallis | Fila | Aegean Airlines |
| Kymi | Isidoros Koutsos | Stavros Toutziarakis | Nickan | - |
| Lavrio Aegean Cargo | Christos Serelis | Michalis Perrakis | Athios | Advanced Hair Clinics |
| Olympiacos | David Blatt | Vassilis Spanoulis | Nike | bwin |
| Panathinaikos OPAP | Rick Pitino | Nick Calathes | Adidas | Pame Stoixima |
| Panionios | Vassilis Fragkias | Nikos Diplaros | Nickan | - |
| PAOK | Ilias Papatheodorou | Vangelis Margaritis | Erreà | Watt+Volt |
| Peristeri Vikos Cola | Argyris Pedoulakis | Panagiotis Vasilopoulos | Flex One | Vikos Cola |
| Promitheas Patras | Makis Giatras | Nikos Gkikas | Athios | Medfrigo |
| Rethymno Cretan Kings | Vangelis Ziagkos | Antreas Christodoulou | Nickan | - |

### Head coaching changes

| Team | Outgoing Head Coach | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Replaced with | Date of appointment |
| Panionios | Vangelis Alexandris | End of contract | 18 May 2018 | Preseason | Thanasis Skourtopoulos | 29 June 2018 |
| Ifaistos Limnou | Thanasis Skourtopoulos | End of contract | 1 June 2018 | Preseason | Sotiris Manolopoulos | 8 June 2018 |
| AEK | Dragan Šakota | Promoted to General Manager | 6 June 2018 | Preseason | Luca Banchi | 1 July 2018 |
| Olympiacos | Ioannis Sfairopoulos | End of contract | 18 June 2018 | Preseason | / David Blatt | 27 June 2018 |
| Panionios | Thanasis Skourtopoulos | Re-signed | 28 August 2018 | Preseason | Chris Chougkaz | 2 September 2018 |
| Panionios | Chris Chougkaz | Re-signed | 30 October 2018 | 11th (1-3) | Vassilis Fragkias | 31 October 2018 |
| Panionios | Vassilis Fragkias | Re-signed | 21 November 2018 | 9th (2-4) | Nikos Oikonomou | 24 November 2018 |
| Kolossos H Hotels | Nikos Vetoulas | Sacked | 22 November 2018 | 12th (1–5) | Kostas Flevarakis | 1 December 2018 |
| Kymi | Ioannis Kastritis | Sacked | 25 November 2018 | 13th (1–6) | Isidoros Koutsos | 26 November 2018 |

## Regular season
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | AEK | 26 | 18 | 8 | 2129 | 1995 | +134 | 44 | Advanced to playoffs |
| 2 | Peristeri Vikos Cola | 26 | 17 | 9 | 2009 | 1977 | +32 | 43 | Advanced to playoffs |
| 3 | Panathinaikos OPAP | 26 | 24 | 2 | 2151 | 1668 | +483 | 43 | Advanced to playoffs |
| 4 | Promitheas Patras | 26 | 16 | 10 | 2003 | 1907 | +96 | 42 | Advanced to playoffs |
| 5 | PAOK | 26 | 15 | 11 | 1992 | 1955 | +37 | 41 | Advanced to playoffs |
| 6 | Olympiacos (R) | 26 | 23 | 3 | 2108 | 1708 | +400 | 40 | Advanced to playoffs |
| 7 | Ifaistos Limnou | 26 | 13 | 13 | 1914 | 1995 | −81 | 39 | Advanced to playoffs |
| 8 | Holargos | 26 | 12 | 14 | 1850 | 1899 | −49 | 38 | Advanced to playoffs |
| 9 | Aris | 26 | 8 | 18 | 1811 | 1883 | −72 | 34 | |
| 10 | Rethymno Cretan Kings | 26 | 8 | 18 | 1906 | 2053 | −147 | 34 | |
| 11 | Panionios | 26 | 8 | 18 | 1950 | 2210 | −260 | 34 | |
| 12 | Kymi | 26 | 8 | 18 | 1899 | 2100 | −201 | 34 | |
| 13 | Lavrio Aegean Cargo (R) | 26 | 7 | 19 | 1997 | 2123 | −126 | 33 | Relegated to Greek A2 League |
| 14 | Kolossos H Hotels (R) | 26 | 5 | 21 | 1958 | 2204 | −246 | 31 | Relegated to Greek A2 League |
* 1 2 Peristeri Vikos Cola and Panathinaikos OPAP finished tied with 43 points. The two clubs split their head to head season series 1–1. Peristeri won the head to head point differential in their two games against Panathinaikos OPAP by 3 points.
* ↑ Panathinaikos OPAP did not receive a point for their forfeited loss to Kymi. As a punishment for forfeiting the game, Panathinaikos was deducted 6 points in the league standings.
* ↑ Olympiacos did not receive a point for their forfeited loss to Panathinaikos OPAP. As a punishment, Olympiacos was deducted 8 points in the league standings.
* 1 2 3 4 Aris, Rethymno Cretan Kings, Panionios, and Kymi finished tied with 34 points. The tie breakers resulted with Aris in 9th place, Rethymno in 10th place, Panionios in 11th place, and Kymi in 12th place.

### Results

| Home \ Away | AEK | ARIS | HOL | IFA | KOL | KYMI | LAV | OLY | PAO | PNN | PAOK | PER | PRO | RET |
| AEK | — | 81–73 | 73–63 | 83–69 | 94–79 | 96–92 | 83–64 | 67–76 | 72–104 | 73–62 | 91–71 | 96–70 | 83–62 | 82–62 |
| Aris | 77–81 | — | 58–59 | 65–54 | 75–81 | 95–60 | 84–70 | 64–68 | 70–84 | 79–56 | 58–62 | 62–68 | 66–65 | 81–87 |
| Holargos | 70–81 | 76–63 | — | 65–62 | 74–60 | 73–66 | 82–71 | 68–73 | 64–81 | 74–73 | 74–68 | 75–76 | 57–69 | 66–61 |
| Ifaistos Limnou | 74–87 | 73–64 | 72–70 | — | 82–76 | 81–74 | 80–76 | 53–73 | 62–84 | 86–64 | 80–79 | 77–73 | 82–67 | 77–80 |
| Kolossos H Hotels | 69–106 | 61–72 | 75–81 | 60–78 | — | 97–90 | 76–80 | 67–86 | 78–88 | 106–109 | 60–75 | 77–84 | 68–83 | 74–63 |
| Kymi | 67–78 | 75–57 | 57–66 | 90–83 | 91–86 | — | 89–88 | 74–77 | 62–87 | 92–82 | 73–90 | 56–87 | 86–82 | 77–84 |
| Lavrio Aegean Cargo | 94–100 | 70–73 | 76–69 | 96–76 | 74–70 | 86–68 | — | 76–81 | 55–80 | 90–60 | 64–77 | 83–55 | 73–85 | 93–94 |
| Olympiacos | 101–75 | 76–67 | 88–78 | 83–46 | 95–74 | 92–69 | 102–63 | — | 0–20 | 98–72 | 80–59 | 92–69 | 86–59 | 84–60 |
| Panathinaikos OPAP | 111–79 | 85–65 | 86–64 | 93–65 | 95–68 | 0–20 | 108–63 | 79–70 | — | 96–71 | 89–51 | 80–75 | 87–76 | 88–64 |
| Panionios | 78–74 | 70–66 | 90–110 | 76–93 | 88–80 | 89–93 | 101–91 | 65–101 | 67–88 | — | 69–73 | 77–75 | 60–74 | 88–72 |
| PAOK | 88–79 | 95–79 | 80–73 | 73–75 | 79–83 | 78–60 | 99–88 | 68–78 | 83–93 | 83–73 | — | 87–73 | 81–56 | 81–64 |
| Peristeri Vikos Cola | 83–80 | 81–61 | 71–62 | 89–81 | 73–70 | 94–93 | 87–78 | 81–76 | 80–72 | 74–71 | 83–65 | — | 79–86 | 80–64 |
| Promitheas Patras | 79–69 | 71–61 | 86–61 | 73–68 | 101–95 | 94–61 | 71–63 | 77–80 | 69–86 | 104–67 | 82–59 | 73–76 | — | 86–81 |
| Rethymno Cretan Kings | 57–66 | 74–76 | 83–76 | 82–85 | 93–67 | 78–64 | 72–77 | 58–92 | 75–87 | 65–72 | 78–88 | 83–73 | 72–73 | — |

## Playoffs

The eight highest ranked teams in the regular season qualified for the playoffs. All series will be played with a 2–2–1 format.

### Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| AEK | 2 | | |
| Holargos | 1 | | |
| Holargos | 1 | AEK | 2 |
| | | Promitheas Patras | 3 |
| Promitheas Patras | 2 | Promitheas Patras | 3 |
| PAOK | 0 | | | | |
| PAOK | 0 | | | Panathinaikos OPAP | 3 |
| | | | | Promitheas Patras | 0 |
| Peristeri Vikos Cola | 2 | | | Promitheas Patras | 0 |
| Ifaistos Limnou | 1 | | | | |
| Ifaistos Limnou | 1 | Peristeri Vikos Cola | 0 | | |
| | | Panathinaikos OPAP | 3 | Third place | Third place |
| Panathinaikos OPAP | w/o $^1$ | Panathinaikos OPAP | 3 | Third place | Third place |
| Olympiacos | | | | | |
| Olympiacos | | | | AEK | 3 |
| | | | | Peristeri Vikos Cola | 1 |

### Quarterfinals

| Team 1 | Series | Team 2 | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 |
| AEK | 2–1 | Holargos | 84–62 | 72–88 | 88–75 |
| Peristeri Vikos Cola | 2–1 | Ifaistos Limnou | 84–81 | 71–77 | 74–64 |
| Panathinaikos OPAP | w/o | Olympiacos | 20–0 | 20–0 | 0 |
| Promitheas Patras | 2–0 | PAOK | 81–66 | 76–68 | 0 |

### Semifinals

| Team 1 | Series | Team 2 | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5 |
| AEK | 2–3 | Promitheas Patras | 83–82 | 65–74 | 88–60 | 54–70 | 84–85 |
| Peristeri Vikos Cola | 0–3 | Panathinaikos OPAP | 68–91 | 66–86 | 75–82 | 0 | 0 |

#### Third place series

| Team 1 | Series | Team 2 | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5 |
| AEK | 3–1 | Peristeri Vikos Cola | 66–67 | 79–71 | 91–83 | 83–82 | 0 |

### Finals

| Team 1 | Series | Team 2 | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5 |
| Panathinaikos OPAP | 3–0 | Promitheas Patras | 103–77 | 92–80 | 111–77 | 0 | 0 |
$^1$ Olympiacos refused to participate in their playoff series against Panathinaikos over refereeing disputes.

## Final standings

| Pos | Team | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Qualification or Relegation |
| | | Pld | W | L |
| 1. | Panathinaikos | 33 | 31 | 2 | Qualification to the EuroLeague *Club qualified for EuroLeague by having a contract |
| 2. | Promitheas Patras | 36 | 21 | 15 | Qualification to the EuroCup |
| 3. | AEK Athens | 38 | 25 | 13 | Qualification to the Champions League *AEK declined EuroCup participation |
| 4. | Peristeri | 36 | 20 | 16 | Qualification to the Champions League |
| 5. | PAOK | 28 | 15 | 13 | Qualification to the Champions League |
| 6. | Ifaistos Limnou | 29 | 14 | 15 | |
| 7. | Holargos | 29 | 13 | 16 | Relegation to the Greek A2 League |
| 8. | Aris | 26 | 8 | 18 | |
| 9. | Rethymno | 26 | 8 | 18 | |
| 10. | Panionios | 26 | 8 | 18 | |
| 11. | Kymi | 26 | 8 | 18 | Relegation to the Greek A2 League |
| 12. | Lavrio | 26 | 7 | 19 | |
| 13. | Kolossos Rodou | 26 | 5 | 21 | |
| 14. | Olympiacos | 27 | 23 | 4 | Qualification to the EuroLeague *Club qualified for EuroLeague by having a contract |
NOTES:
* Holargos was faced financial problems. The club's registered place in the top-tier Greek Basket League was purchased by Kolossos Rodou, which thus avoided being relegated.
* Kymi was faced financial problems. The club's registered place in the top-tier Greek Basket League was purchased by Lavrio, which thus avoided being relegated.
* Olympiacos was relegated on 22 May 2019, following a meeting of the Hellenic Basketball Clubs Association's Board of Directors. This was due to the club refusing to play in its playoff series against Panathinaikos, which marked its third forfeited game of the season, and which resulted in an automatic relegation, per league rules. The league also stripped the team of all of its season wins, as a further punishment.

## Awards
### Season MVP

* Nick Calathes – Panathinaikos

### Best Young Player

* Zois Karampelas – Peristeri

### Best Defender

* Nick Calathes – Panathinaikos

### Most Improved Player

* Dimitris Kaklamanakis – Lavrio

### Coach of the Year

* Makis Giatras – Promitheas Patras

### All-Greek League Teams

First Team :
| Player | Team |
| Nick Calathes MVP | Panathinaikos |
| Davion Berry | Panionios |
| Ioannis Papapetrou | Panathinaikos |
| Panos Vasilopoulos | Peristeri |
| Nikola Milutinov | Olympiacos |
Second Team :
| Player | Team |
| Vassilis Spanoulis | Olympiacos |
| Steve Burtt Jr. | Rethymno |
| Matt Lojeski | Panathinaikos |
| Georgios Printezis | Olympiacos |
| Vince Hunter | AEK |

## Statistical leaders

The Greek Basket League counts official stats leaders by stats totals, and not by per game averages. It also counts the total stats for both regular season combined.
| Category | Player | Team | Total | Average |
| Points | Steve Burtt Jr. | Rethymno | 493 | 19.0 |
| Rebounds | Sean Evans | Ifaistos Limnou | 221 | 8.8 |
| Assists | Nick Calathes | Panathinaikos | 151 | 7.2 |
| Steals | Vince Hunter | AEK | 40 | 1.5 |
| Blocks | Danny Agbelese | Holargos | 48 | 1.8 |
| PIR | Davion Berry | Panionios | 464 | 20.1 |

### Individual game highs

| Category | Player | Team | Statistic |
| Points | Will Hatcher | PAOK | 37 |
| Rebounds | Nikola Milutinov | Olympiacos | 18 |
| Assists | Anthony Hickey | Rethymno Cretan Kings | 16 |
| Steals | Alexandros Sigkounas | Rethymno Cretan Kings | 6 |
| Steals | Quincy Diggs | Kolossos | 6 |
| Blocks | Octavius Ellis | Promitheas Patras | 7 |
| Blocks | Aaron Jones | Rethymno Cretan Kings | 7 |
| PIR | Octavius Ellis | Promitheas Patras | 50 |

## Clubs in European-wide competitions

| Team | Competition | Progress |
| Olympiacos | EuroLeague | Regular season |
| Panathinaikos | EuroLeague | Playoffs |
| AEK | Champions League | Quarterfinals |
| PAOK | Champions League | Round of 16 |
| Promitheas | Champions League | Round of 16 |
| Aris | Champions League | Second qualifying round |
| Aris | FIBA Europe Cup | Regular season |
| Lavrio | FIBA Europe Cup | First qualifying round |

## Clubs in World-wide competitions

| Team | Competition | Progress |
| AEK | FIBA Intercontinental Cup | Final 4, 1st place |