The veteran guard has written his name further into the EuroLeague history books.
Nick Calathes becomes first player to reach 2,000 assists
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul's Nick Calathes has reached yet another milestone by becoming the first player to record 2,000 career assists in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. The 35-year-old, a EuroLeague champion in 2011, dished his 2,000th assist by finding Amine Noua for a score during Fenerbahce’s Round 26 game on the road at Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens, where he played for eight years across two spells.
Now in his 12th EuroLeague season, Calathes continues to dazzle with his playmaking ability on the court. He spent his opening eight campaigns with Panathinaikos in two stints, from 2009 to 2012 and then from 2015 to 2020. Calathes dished more than half of his career assists, 1,260, in 211 games with the Greens. He went to play for FC Barcelona, recording 451 assists in 70 contests. Calathes is in his second season with Fenerbahce, where he dished 292 assists in 62 appearances.
His first EuroLeague career assist came on February 11, 2010, as he found Drew Nicholas for a layup in an 83-71 road loss with Panathinaikos against Barca. Calathes won the 2010-11 EuroLeague title with Panathinaikos playing alongside Dimitris Diamantidis, the first player to reach 1,000 career assists.
He holds the record for the most assists in a playoff game, having dished 16 for Panathinaikos against Real Madrid on April 17, 2018. Calathes also holds the record for most assists in a EuroLeague season, notching 286 in the 2018-19 campaign. Calathes has had 14 or more assists 10 times in his career. The rest of the players in the EuroLeague all-time have combined for 21 games with 14 or more assists.
His best mark is 18 assists, which Calathes achieved twice: against Buducnost VOLI Podgorica in 2019 and CSKA Moscow in 2020. In that game against Buducnost, Calathes added 11 points and 12 rebounds to record the third-ever triple-double in EuroLeague history. Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz’s Codi Miller-McIntyre recorded just the fourth double-double in competition history on Thursday night.
Calathes is the runaway leader in assists. Sergio Rodriguez ranks second with 1,837, followed by Kostas Sloukas (1,615) and Vassilis Spanoulis (1,607).