The Greens are returning to the Final Four after a 12-year hiatus. Here are some facts about Panathinaikos and its roster
Final Four team facts: Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens
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- Panathinaikos can win its seventh EuroLeague championship. The Greens previously won the competition in 1996, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009 and 2011. Real Madrid leads the all-time list with 11 continental crowns. CSKA Moscow ranks second with eight titles.
- Panathinaikos is back in the Final Four for the first time since 2012. This is Panathinaikos's 11th EuroLeague Final Four appearance. The Greens also made it to the 2001 SuproLeague Final Four.
- Ergin Ataman has won four different continental trophies. He won the Saporta Cup with Montepaschi Siena in 2002, the EuroChallenge with Besiktas Istanbul in 2012, the EuroCup with Galatasaray Istanbul in 2016 and the EuroLeague with Anadolu Efes Istanbul in 2021 and 2022. He is one of three coaches to have won four different European competitions: Dusan Ivkovic (EuroLeague, EuroCup, Saporta, Korac) and Aito Garcia Reneses (EuroCup, Saporta, Korac, EuroChallenge).
- Coach Ataman is one of four coaches to win European competitions with four different teams. He won titles with Siena, Besiktas, Galatasaray and Efes. Zeljko Obradovic has won European trophies with six different teams: Partizan Belgrade, Joventut Badalona, Benetton Treviso, Real Madrid, Panathinaikos and Fenerbahce. Ivkovic (Partizan, AEK Athens, Olympiacos Piraeus, Dynamo Moscow) and Bozidar Maljkovic (Split, Limoges, Panathinaikos, Unicaja Malaga) have each won with four teams.
- Coach Ataman has made it to the Final Four with three different teams: Siena, Efes and now Panathinaikos. Obradovic, Maljkovic, Ivkovic, Ettore Messina and Ioannis Ioannidis did in the past, and Sarunas Jasikevicius (Zalgiris, Barcelona, Fenerbahce) joined the list this season.
- Kostas Sloukas has the chance to win his fourth EuroLeague championship. Sloukas won titles with Olympiacos in 2012 and 2013 and lifted the trophy again with Fenerbahce in 2017.
- Sloukas is 7-2 in the EuroLeague Semifinals. Sloukas registered six consecutive wins (Olympiacos 2012, 2013, 2015; Fenerbahce 2016, 2017, 2018), lost against Anadolu Efes with Fenerbahce in 2019 and with Olympiacos in 2022, and won again with the Reds in 2023.
- Sloukas can join a list of four-time winners with different teams. Dino Meneghin (five titles with Varese, two with Milan) leads the list. Fausto Bargna (two with Cantu, two with Milan), Kyle Hines (two with Olympiacos, two with CSKA) and Sarunas Jasikevicius (one with Barcelona, two with Maccabi, one with Panathinaikos) complete the list.
- Sloukas can join Jasikevicius as the only players to lift the EuroLeague trophy with three different teams.
- Sloukas will compete at his 10th Final Four. He is tied with Sergio Llull for second place for the most Final Four appearances list. Victor Khryapa leads with 12 Final Fours.
- If he makes it to the championship game, Sloukas will pass Matjaz Smodis for the most finals appearances this century. Smodis played in seven EuroLeague finals: two with Virtus Bologna (2001, 2002) one with Fortitudo Bologna (2004) and four with CSKA (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). Sloukas is seeking his eighth championship game.
- Sloukas is the second player ever to be chosen to All-EuroLeague teams with three different clubs. Sloukas made it to the All-EuroLeague teams with Fenerbahce, Olympiacos and now Panathinaikos. The late Alphonso Ford previously reached the All-EuroLeague teams with Peristeri Athens, Olympiacos and Montepaschi Siena.
- Luca Vildoza can join a list of six Argentineans who have won the EuroLeague. The list also features Hugo Sconochini (Virtus 1998, 2001), Manu Ginobili (Virtus 2001), Pepe Sanchez (Panathinaikos 2002) and Andres Nocioni (Real 2015), as well as two players present at this year's Final Four, Facu Campazzo (Real 2015, 2018) and Gabriel Deck (Real 2023).
- Olek Balcerowski and Mathias Lessort can join a list of players to have won both the EuroLeague and EuroCup. Balcerowski won the EuroCup with Gran Canaria last season and Lessort lifted the trophy with AS Monaco in 2021. The list features 20 names, and three of those players will be in this year's Final Four: Rudy Fernandez (Real Madrid 2015, 2018, 2023; Joventut Badalona 2008), Alberto Abalde (Real Madrid 2023; Valencia Basket 2019) and Nick Calathes (Panathinaikos Athens 2011; Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar 2013).
- Balcerowski has a rare chance to win the EuroCup and the EuroLeague in consecutive seasons. He would be the first player to do it in that order. Tyrese Rice went the opposite way, winning the EuroLeague with Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2014 and the EuroCup with Khimki Moscow Region in 2015.
- Jerian Grant was the 2022-23 EuroCup MVP. He received the award while playing for Turk Telekom Ankara. There are three EuroCup MVPs who also became EuroLeague champions: Calathes, Rice and Alexey Shved. Grant will join this list if Panathinaikos wins.
- Ioannis Papapetrou and Sloukas have joined a select group of players who reached the Final Four with both Olympiacos and Panathinaikos. They join Dimitrios Papanikolaou, Andreas Glyniadakis, Ian Vougioukas, Vassilis Spanoulis, Lazaros Papadopoulos, Stratos Perperoglou, Zarko Paspalj, Alexander Volkov, Johnny Rogers and Giorgi Shermadini.
- Kostas Antetokounmpo can join a list of 11 players who have won the EuroLeague and NBA. Antetokounmpo won the 2019-20 NBA championship with Los Angeles Lakers. This list includes Bill Bradley, Toni Kukoc, Bob McAdoo and Manu Ginobili.
- Juancho Hernangomez can join a list of players who have won the Basketball World Cup, EuroBasket and EuroLeague. Hernangomez won the World Cup in 2019 and lifted the EuroBasket trophy in 2022. The list of 26 players to win all three includes all-time greats such as Arvydas Sabonis, Juan Carlos Navarro, Drazen Petrovic and Toni Kukoc, as well as three current Real Madrid players: Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Llull and Sergio Rodriguez.
- Hernangomez can become the second Spanish-born player to win the EuroLeague with a foreign team. Sergio Rodriguez previously won the 2019 EuroLeague championship with CSKA Moscow.
- Marius Grigonis leads all Final Four players in career free throw shooting. He ranks seventh all-time at 90.5%, having made 334 of 369 free throw attempts.