Panathinaikos don't allow Papagiannis to leave for national team / News - Basketnews.com

Panathinaikos did not allow Georgios Papagiannis to leave as the club's owners believes the Greek Federation is putting pressure on the organization by calling up the players without arranging it with the team itself.

Credit: Panagiotis Moschandreou/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Panagiotis Moschandreou/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

After playing matches in the EuroLeague, the two biggest clubs of Greek basketball, Panathinaikos Athens and Olympiacos Piraeus, have released their players to the Greek national team. However, not every single local player was allowed to leave.

Georgios Papagiannis

MIN:20.58PTS:6.71 (51.06%)REB:6As:0.43ST:0.43BL:1.14TO:1GM:7ProfileEuroLeague2022/2023

Notably, Panathinaikos' Georgios Papagianis wasn't permitted to join the national team even though he was invited to the training camp.

"Throughout the years, Panathinaikos, the administration, and its ambassadors have proven that they put the national team above all. After all, Panathinaikos was always the backbone of the national team's successes that unfortunately belong to the past," Panathinaikos owner Dimitris Giannakopoulos said.

"It would be good for the Hellenic Basketball Federation's administration, which until now has completely failed, as well as its institutions, to do its self-criticism and to resign and not to pressure [and send] blackmail from every direction, so as to prepare excuses and culprits for possible failure," he told.

At the same time, Olympiacos' Kostas Sloukas had to sit out the 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers matches as well. However, he wasn't officially invited to the national team as Papagiannis was.

The Federation has released an official message, claiming that Panathinaikos haven't given permission for their center to leave.

In this situation, it is possible to believe that Giannakopoulos views the situation as the Federation's attempt to pressure the organization into allowing every single player to leave for the national team before all official arrangements are discussed without doing the same with their eternal rival Olympiacos.

Later, Panathinaikos communications director Dimitris Kontos emphasized the omission of Sloukas in the conversation.

Georgios Papagiannis

Team:Panathinaikos AthensPosition:CAge:25Height:218 cmWeight:125 kgBirth place:Marousi, GreeceProfileNewsStatistics

"What I can say is that the name of Kostas Sloukas is not mentioned anywhere in the official information of the national team. He is the best Greek guard, obviously, he is overworked, but he's protected from being mentioned in the briefing," he told to Sport FM.

"For the two best Greeks in the league, there is no information about Sloukas. With Papagiannis, Panathinaikos didn't let him leave," Kondo said.

Yesterday, the head of all Greece national teams, Dimos Dikoudis, announced that the Hellenic Basketball Federation had filed an official complaint to both FIBA and the Serbian Basketball Federation regarding Partizan's refusal to release Ioannis Papapetrou to the Greek national team.

After competing in the EuroLeague during the week, Nick Calathes, Kostas Papanikolaou, Giannoulis Larentzakis, Eleftherios Bochoridis, Panagiotis Kalaitzakis, and Dimitris Agravanis will join the Greek national team for the upcoming match against Belgium on Monday.

Greece's head coach Dimitris Itoudis has recently criticized the FIBA window system both after Fenerbahce's EuroLeague game and after yesterday's loss to Latvia.

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