Vassilis Spanoulis

Vassilis Spanoulis (also commonly known as Bill Spanoulis or Billy Spanoulis, Βασίλης Σπανούλης; born 7 August 1982) is a Greek professional basketball coach and former player, who is currently the head coach of the pro club Peristeri Athens, of the Greek Basket League and FIBA BCL, as well as the head coach of the senior men's Greek national team.

During his professional club playing career, Spanoulis was a FIBA World Club Championship champion, a Triple Crown winner, a 3 time EuroLeague champion and 5 time EuroLeague finalist, a FIBA Europe League finalist, a 7 time Greek Basket League champion and 13 time Greek Basket League finalist, and a 4 time Greek Cup winner and 9 time Greek Cup finalist.

In October 2023, Spanoulis was voted the EuroLeague's "GOAT" ("Greatest of All Time") player, in a BasketNews.com poll of EuroLeague players.

Spanoulis received 40% of the vote total, while the second placed vote getter, received a total of 14% of the vote.

Spanoulis' number 7 jersey, was retired by the Greek EuroLeague club Olympiacos Piraeus, on 17 September 2023.

Spanoulis is widely considered to be one of the greatest basketball legends that ever played the sport in Europe, and at the peak of his playing career, he took the public's interest in European professional club basketball to a higher level.

He spent the majority of his playing career in the Greek Basket League, winning four Greek League titles as a member of Panathinaikos Athens, and three Greek titles as a member of Olympiacos Piraeus.

Spanoulis was born in Larissa, Greece, on 7 August 1982.

His father Thanasis Spanoulis, was the owner of a drug store, and his mother Georgia Spanouli, was a bank clerk.

Spanoulis was the couple's second and last child, being born three years after his older brother Dimitris.

At the age of 7, Spanoulis began training in the sports of football, swimming, and basketball.

As a youth, Spanoulis idolized the basketball players Michael Jordan and Nikos Galis.

In 1994, at the age of 12, Spanoulis joined the youth basketball program of the multi-sports club Gymnastikos S. Larissas.

Spanoulis' father Thanasis, died of cancer, on 4 November 1997, when Spanoulis was 15 years old.

In 1999, at the age of 16, Spanoulis won the 1998–99 season's national under-18 club championship of Greece.

He led Keravnos Larissa, the youth basketball subsidiary of Gymnastikos S. Larissas, to the title of the Panhellenic Youth Championship.

He was the championship's leading scorer, and Most Valuable Player.

In the competition's semifinals, he scored 40 points against the youth team of Aris Thessaloniki.

His skill-set earned him a transfer to Athens and Maroussi, where he won the Greek Basket League's Best Young Player award for the 2002–03 season.

Following an impressive 2004–05 season, during which he was the Greek Basket League Top Scorer, and helped lead Maroussi to the Greek Basket League's finals and the 2005 EuroCup quarterfinals, he moved to Panathinaikos, where he became one of European basketball's major stars.

In the 2005–06 EuroLeague season, Spanoulis made his debut in impressive fashion, earning his first All-EuroLeague Team selection as a rookie in the competition.

Spanoulis played an instrumental role on the gold medal win of the Greece men's national basketball team at the 2005 FIBA EuroBasket.

After a stint in the NBA with the Houston Rockets during the 2006–07 season, he returned to Panathinaikos and helped lead them to a EuroLeague title in 2009, being voted the EuroLeague Final Four MVP in the process.

He was one of the main stars of Greece's 2006 FIBA World Cup silver medal team, scoring 22 points in the memorable victory over Team USA (101–95), in the tournament's semifinals.

He also won three EuroLeague titles, one with the former club (2009), and two consecutively (2012 and 2013) with the latter.

HoopsHype.com named Spanoulis one of the 75 Greatest International Players Ever in 2021.

In 2022, he was named a EuroLeague Legend (EuroLeaague's Hall of Fame).

He was also inducted into the Greek Basket League Hall of Fame, in 2022.

During his pro playing career, at a height of 6 ft tall, and a weight of 212 lb, Spanoulis played as a point guard-shooting guard, and was nicknamed Kill Bill, V-Span, Greek Lightning, and MVP ("Most Vassilis Player"), during his playing days Spanoulis was named the Balkan Athlete of the Year in 2009, the All-Europe Player of the Year in 2012 and 2013, the International Sports Prize's World Athlete of the Year in 2013, and the EuroLeague MVP the same year.

It was however, Greece's bronze medal at the 2009 FIBA EuroBasket, that emphasized Spanoulis' leadership within an injury-plagued Greece national team, and consequently earned him an EuroBasket All-Star Five honor.

He earned a record eight All-EuroLeague Team selections and was 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.

Spanoulis' transfer to Olympiacos from Panathinaikos in the summer of 2010 marked a new step in his career, given Olympiacos' feisty rivalry with Panathinaikos.

Within a young and rebuilding Olympiacos team, Spanoulis not only led the club to a EuroLeague title run in 2012, but he also went on to lead the team to a historical EuroLeague championship repeat in 2013.

In the process, he gained another two EuroLeague Final Four MVP awards, thus joining Toni Kukoč as the only players in the history of European basketball to achieve that distinction on three occasions.

Under his leadership, Olympiacos reached another two EuroLeague Finals, in 2015 and 2017.

In 2017, European basketball historian Vladimir Stanković and the EuroLeague's expert basketball panel, named Spanoulis the "Most Clutch Player in EuroLeague History".

In 2020, Spanoulis was named the "Best EuroLeague Player of The 2010s Decade" by the readers of the website Eurohoops.net.

In 2020, Spanoulis was named to the FIBA Summer Olympics 1992–2020 Dream Team, which consisted of the 25 best players in FIBA Summer Olympics history, since the inclusion of NBA players in 1992, and to the FIBA EuroBasket 2000–2020 Dream Team, which consisted of the 5 best players of the FIBA EuroBasket, since the year 2000.