The four-time EuroLeague champion looks through a number of key photos from his illustrious career.
Kyle Hines, Milan: ‘Little did I know that this game would start a 14-year journey…’
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EA7 Emporio Armani Milan center Kyle Hines has been there and done it all. Now in his 14th season in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, the four-time champion has reflected on some of his key moments to date in Europe’s premier club basketball competition.
It all started for the 37-year-old Hines back on October 20, 2010, as he made his EuroLeague debut for Brose Baskets Bamberg. As he explains, his European adventure actually began one season before as he played for Italian club Veroli Basket, not far from Rome, from 2008 to 2010. Interestingly, Hines’s first EuroLeague game came in the Italian capital as his new Bamberg side took on Lottomatica Roma.
“I had watched my very first EuroLeague game in that same arena,” Hines reflects. “Little did I know that this game would start a 14-year journey that I’m still in the middle of… or towards the end of right now, depending on who you ask.”
Starting his EuroLeague legacy
After making a big impact in 10 games off the bench for Bamberg, Olympiacos Piraeus soon came calling. Hines’s first season with the Reds could not have gone better as the club won just its second EuroLeague title. Having been down by 19 points to CSKA Moscow in the championship game in Istanbul, Turkiye, Olympiacos rallied before winning on Georgios Printezis’s last-second shot.
“This second picture means a whole lot right here. This is when we won the EuroLeague title, the first time I won the EuroLeague title, with Olympiacos,” Hines says. “To me, this is one of the best games in EuroLeague history. I’m not just saying that because I was a part of it.
“We were down 19 points and we were able to come back and win this game. Not many people really believed that this team could win a EuroLeague team; I don’t think we even understood. It’s the first EuroLeague, so you never forget your first.”
The following season, which proved to be Hines’s last in an Olympiacos jersey, saw the same result: another EuroLeague success. This time, Hines and the Reds beat Real Madrid 100-88 in the championship game at the 02 Arena in London, England.
“This next one is when we won the EuroLeague title, the second time with Olympiacos, back-to-back in London, England,” he continues. “At the same, we were only the second team in EuroLeague history to win back-to-back. For us to win a EuroLeague title in one of the most famous arenas in the world was definitely special.”
Captaining a team to EuroLeague glory
Hines left Olympiacos in 2013 and went on to spend the next seven years at CSKA. In addition to becoming a EuroLeague champion for the third time in the 2015-16 season, Hines captained CSKA to EuroLeague glory in the 2018-19 campaign, which added a different sensation to his previous three triumphs.
“This one was really special because I was the captain of the team,” he explains. “There’s nothing like, as the captain of a team, being able to lift the title and lift the trophy over your head with all of your teammates and everybody in attendance. I had a lot of family members there; my wife was there, my son was a little too small, but my daughter was there. That’s a memory that will last forever for all of us.”
Returning ‘home’
Then, in the summer of 2020, Hines returned to where his professional basketball career began: Italy. Ten years after departing Veroli, Hines signed for EA7 Emporio Armani Milan and has played under head coach Ettore Messina ever since.
“I started my career in Italy, so for me, hopefully to have the opportunity to finish my career in Italy, it means a lot to me,” Hines adds. “This club, this city and just Italy as a whole as a country is definitely very special to me.”