The No. 15 is now hanging in the rafters
Georgios Printezis has his jersey retired by Olympiacos
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A Turkish Airlines EuroLeague legend has received the ultimate honor from the club he represented throughout the majority of his career. Georgios Printezis, a lifelong Olympiacos Piraeus fan, got his No. 15 jersey retired by the Reds on Friday, September 6.
It is just the second number Olympiacos has ever retired. A year earlier, the Reds sent the No. 7 to the rafters to honor Printezis's long-time teammate Vassilis Spanoulis.
Author of one of the EuroLeague's greatest moments
Printezis and Spanoulis delivered one of the most iconic plays in EuroLeague history. Down by one in the 2012 championship game and with a few seconds left, Spanoulis found a wide-open Printezis near the baseline. Printezis hit his trademark one-handed floater with 0.7 left, giving Olympiacos a 61-62 lead against CSKA Moscow. When CSKA did not score on the final play, Olympiacos had completed a 19-point comeback in the final 12 minutes to win its second EuroLeague title and its first in 15 years.
Printezis's jersey retirement celebration was the highlight of the night, labelled as "A Moment to Remember", at Peace and Friendship Stadium. It also featured a friendly game between Olympiacos and Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, and a gala dinner on Thursday night full of basketball VIPs.
A true EuroLeague icon, Printezis retired from the game of basketball in June 2022 after 20 years as a professional. Printezis played 17 seasons for Olympiacos in three different stints, interrupted by a one-season stop with Olimpia Larissa of Greece in 2006-07 and two with Unicaja Malaga of Spain between 2009 and 2011.
A bona fide legend
His last stint started with a bang as Printezis helped the Reds win back-to-back EuroLeague titles in 2012 and 2013. They went on to reach two more EuroLeague championship games together, in 2015 and 2017. They also shared two other Final Four appearances, in 2009 and 2022, for a total of six touching three different decades.
Printezis was voted in 2020 to the EuroLeague All-Decade team by fans, media, coaches and his fellow players. From 2010 to 2020, he ranked fourth among all EuroLeague players in total performance index rating (2,916), and fifth in both scoring (2,696 points) and rebounds (1,117). He was one of just two players to register 2,500 points and 1,000 rebounds in the 2010s.
He was also chosen to the 2016-17 All-EuroLeague First Team. All-time, and despite retiring two years ago, Printezis ranks sixth in games played (375), ninth in scoring (3,599 points), 10th in rebounds (1,452) and 13th in PIR (3,818).
Outside of his EuroLeague successes, Printezis helped Olympiacos win four Greek League titles – in 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2022 – and two Greek Cup trophies, in 2011 and 2022. Printezis also won the 2013 Intercontinental Cup with Olympiacos and helped the Greek national team take a bronze medal at EuroBasket 2009.