Panionios B.C.

Panionios B.C. (Greek: Πανιώνιος KAE), known in European competitions as Panionios Athens 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 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
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.
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. 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. 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
Arenas
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. 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. At various times, the club has also used the National Athletic Center Glyfada Makis Liougas, which has a capacity of 3,232.
In 2019, the club moved into the Sofia Befon Palaio Faliro Indoor Hall for the 2019–20 season. The arena seats 1,204 people. 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 is scheduled to be open for the 2022–23 season. The club will play at a smaller arena in Nea Smyrni neighborhood, Andreas Varikas Indoor Hall, until its new arena is completed.
Retired numbers
Current roster
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
Greek 3rd Division
Winners (1): 2015–16
Greek National Categories Cup
Winners (1): 2022–23
European competitions
FIBA Korać Cup
Semifinalist (2): 1993–94, 1998–99
Other competitions
Athens, Greece Tournament
Winners (1): 2011
International record
Season by season results
Notable players
Greece:
Dimitris Agravanis
Vangelis Angelou
Ioannis Athanasoulas
Ioannis Athinaiou
Nikos Barlos
Marios Batis
Georgios Bogris
Georgios Bosganas
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
Theodoros Karamanolis
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
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
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.
{| class="wikitable float-left"
! style="color:white; background:#E41B17;"|Rank
! style="color:white; background:#E41B17;"|Player
! style="color:white; background:#E41B17;"|Games Played
|-
| align="center" | 1.
| Marios Batis
| align="center" | 174
|}
{| class="wikitable float-right"
! style="color:white; background:#E41B17;"|Rank
! style="color:white; background:#E41B17;"|Player
! style="color:white; background:#E41B17;"|Points Scored
|-
| align="center" | 1.
| Georgios Diamantopoulos
| align="center" | 2,676
|}
See also
Panionios F.C.
Panionios G.S.S.
References
External links
Panionios B.C. Official Website
Eurobasket.com Team Page
Greek Basket League Team Page
EuroCup Official Team Page
Euroleague.net Panionios B.C. Team Profile
Panionios Panthers Club
Basketball
Basketball teams in Attica
Nea Smyrni