page_title: Vassilis Spanoulis
section_title: Greek senior national team
hierarchical_section_title: Vassilis Spanoulis / National team career / Greek senior national team
caption_attribution_description: Vasileios Spanoulis ready for a free throw... [Israel 80-106 Greece, Eurobasket 2009, Poland] Israel 80-106 Greece
context_page_description: Vassilis "Billy" Spanoulis is a Greek professional basketball player for Olympiacos of the EuroLeague. A 6 ft 4 in tall combo guard, he is nicknamed Kill Bill, V-Span, and MVP. Spanoulis was named the Balkan Athlete of the Year in 2009, the All-Europe Player of the Year in 2012 and 2013, the Vatican's World Athlete of the Year in 2013 and the EuroLeague MVP the same year. He has earned a record eight All-EuroLeague Team selections. He was also voted the EuroLeague's 2010–2020 Player of the Decade. He is also the EuroLeague's all-time career leader in total points scored.
  Spanoulis first played pro club basketball with Gymnastikos S. Larissas, and enjoyed a highly successful career start. His skill-set earned him a transfer to Athens and Maroussi, where he won the Greek Basket League's Best Young Player award in 2003. Following an impressive 2004–05 season, during which he helped lead Maroussi to the Greek Basket League's finals and the EuroCup quarterfinals, he moved to Panathinaikos, where he became one of European basketball's major stars.
context_section_description: Spanoulis was a part of Greece's senior national team that won the 2006 FIBA Mini World Cup. Greece beat both Australia and Germany, whose team included NBA star Dirk Nowitzki, to win the tournament. Spanoulis led Greece in scoring during the tournament.
  Spanoulis was named the MVP, of both the 2007 and 2009 friendly Acropolis Tournaments, in Athens, and he also won the same tournament 9 times with the Greek national team, in the years 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, and 2015.
  Spanoulis' retirement from the senior Greek national basketball team was announced on September 17, 2015, after the 2015 EuroBasket. He ended his senior men's Greek national basketball team career, having been the leading scorer in every major tournament that he played in, from 2006 onward (9 tournaments in total: 2006 FIBA World Cup, 2007 EuroBasket, 2008 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, 2008 Summer Olympics, 2009 EuroBasket, 2010 FIBA World Cup, 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, 2013 EuroBasket, and the 2015 EuroBasket). 
  In December 2019, Greece's senior national team head coach at the time, Rick Pitino, stated that, "Just for the record, I would love to see Spanoulis join our national team”. Pitino then stated in May 2020, on Spanoulis rejoining the Greek national team, "I must say that I still want Spanoulis to play. Before the injury, I thought that Spanoulis would play. I want him to be the leader, I want him to lead the team, even if he is not 100% ready. He will have time to get back on his feet. I want him to come as a leader. We will not win with athleticism, but with intelligence and the pride of playing for Greece. Spanoulis is very important to me, I want to have him with me. I will make him an offer that he can't refuse."
caption: Spanoulis, in action with the senior Greek national team, at the 2009 EuroBasket.
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