A task for the brave: Kostas Sloukas aims to end daunting tradition in Greek derbies / News - Basketnews.com

As Kostas Sloukas is ready to return to Piraeus with Panathinaikos' jersey, BasketNews takes a look at what might be in store for him and how some of the great players of the past experienced their first visit to their former home.

Credit: Vangelis Stolis Credit Vangelis Stolis

Over the last few days,Kostas Sloukas has been asked questions regarding his imminent comeback to the Peace and Friendship Stadium.

Free throws this season

74%16,4Points made:16,4Accuracy:73,9%Place in standings:2Record max:21Record min:10Most made FTs:Mathias LessortTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

As a matter of fact, facing his former team, Olympiacos Piraeus, will be an intriguing task for the 33-year-old guard, who will have to stand the test of having 12,000 rowdy fans use his name in any profane chant imaginable.

And even though Sloukas himself recently tried to shrug off the undeniable fact that he will be the home crowd's main target this Monday evening, when the Reds will take on Panathinaikos Athensfor Round 4 of the Greek league (19:15 CEST), it's rather impossible that the veteran player is unaware of the atmosphere that awaits him.

One would be willing to share Sloukas' vision if it hadn't been for his past statements, which only serve to illustrate his disenchantment with how he was treated and received upon returning to Piraeus for the first time since he left in 2015.

His most recent comment didn't even come as a response to a question about Olympiacos.

"I got more boos as a Fenerbahce player by Olympiacos fans rather than by Panathinaikos supporters," he said in late September.

As one would expect, statements like that can trigger diametrically opposed feelings on the two rival camps.

For PAO fans, it was a token of appreciation. For Olympiacos and those who had a vivid memory of how Sloukas chose to move to Fenerbahce, it added more fuel to a burning fire whilst widening the gap separating the two sides.

To a large extent, Olympiacos fans think Sloukas never really bonded with the team and chose to always put his ego above anything and anyone else -- his coaches (Giannis Sfairopoulos in 2015, Giorgos Bartzokas in 2023) included.

Panathinaikos Athens / Schedule

Panathinaikos Athens Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz95-81 FC Barcelona Panathinaikos AthensFri19:30

On his first visit to Piraeus as an opponent (December 29, 2016), he saw the Reds' management pay him tribute for his services before getting a first taste of the crowd's disapproval.

It's a bit ironic that a full account of how Sloukas experienced his first-ever comeback to Piraeus can be found where it would be least expected: Olympiacos' official website.

"For me, Olympiacos was my home for seven years, we had success. I was a Greek player who fought for the jersey, loved and cared for the team, would stay up at night after every loss," he recalled in March 2021.

"When I came back and despite playing on the same team as Pero (Antic), he was applauded, and fans were singing his name, while I was booed, albeit being Greek and having served the club for all those years. I don't mean to say anything about Antic. He gave his soul to Olympiacos for two years," Sloukas clarified.

"But what happened that night bothered me," he admitted.

"I don't judge people, they didn't know how things happened and what my thoughts were. People are entitled to their own opinions, but criticism doesn't affect me. I care about the people close to me.

Still, it bothered me all the same. I think the fans' perception of me had been distorted. During that period, the atmosphere was more charged than it should have been. Perhaps, just because I was loved among fans, it hurt that I left," Sloukas came to acknowledge.

Those words resonate with what the Greek international toldSportal's Ilias Laliotis last September when asked about his decision to sign with Panathinaikos.

"What has bothered me about my transfer is that certain facts haven't been reported the way they should. The story has been told from one side only, and that makes sense. Olympiacos is a very big club, and it can influence situations and journalists," he said, implying that certain media might have been instructed to turn fans against him.

"So, the truth about what really happened is being hidden," he continued.

"I'm not going to sit down and report what's happened. It doesn't affect me from a sports perspective. What mostly bothers me is that the true facts have not been written down," Sloukas argued.

The three-time EuroLeague winner wore the red-and-white jersey from 2008 until 2015, with the exception of the 2010-11 season when was loaned out to Aris.

He returned in 2020 after five years in Istanbul, and while some suspected a second departure was on the cards last summer, switching Olympiacos to Panathinaikos is not a simple matter. It involves a burden that must be carried, it takes courage and requires immense determination.

Just like the one Sloukas' most notable teammate, Vassilis Spanoulis, displayed in 2010 when he followed the opposite route. In fact, Spanoulis' transfer was announced on 11 July 2010, and that of Sloukas on 8 July 2023.

Credit Vangelis Stolis

What renders the first case special is that Panathinaikos fans didn't have to wait until the first derby of the 2010-11 season to express their feelings.

The EuroLeague legend returned to OAKA on 18 August 2010, when Greece was hosting Canada in a pre-World Cup friendly game.

Roughly 15 PAO fans had taken a seat behind Greece's bench and started shouting at Spanoulis once he appeared from the tunnel and headed to the court for warmup. They even waved banknotes at him before leaving the facility. Mission accomplished.

The gigantic protective nets that are usually deployed at OAKA and the Peace and Friendship Stadium have worked miracles and are specifically required for cases where flying objects can be thrown from any part of the stands.

Even though Spanoulis' move to Olympiacos still remains the most important in the history of player transfers between the two teams, it's common knowledge that whenever such a big leap is taken, tolerance disappears, and all kinds of extreme behavior find its way into the arenas.

After all, it's a situation that has happened before and will happen in the future. Sloukas has been the 9th player to leave Olympiacos for Panathinaikos, five years after Ioannis Papapetrou, who won't be available for Monday's game.

Credit Vangelis Stolis

On the occasion of Sloukas' return to Piraeus, let's have a look at some of the most memorable comebacks in the games between the two powerhouses. The one thing all have in common (with the possible exception of Zarko Paspalj) is that their first appearance in front of a hostile crowd turned out to be way below average.

Nikos Economou (2000-2001, Panathinaikos-Olympiacos 68-63)

A long-time PAO player (1992-1999), Economou left the club in 1999 to join Virtus Bologna. One year later, he signed with Olympiacos, where he stayed for one season.

His case bears a strong resemblance to Sloukas', as Economou - who had been Greece's starting power forward until then - had developed close ties with the Greens and turned into one of the team's franchise players.

As expected, PAO fans called him names whenever he touched the ball in a losing effort for Olympiacos at OAKA.

He played for just 13 minutes, scoring 4 points and showing that he had been affected by the atmosphere. When asked to comment on how he experienced the game, he stressed that "people in Greece applaud a lot and forget quickly".

Zarko Paspalj (1994-95, Olympiacos-Panathinaikos 72-74)

Paspalj, a legend of Serbian basketball, is widely regarded as the man who put Olympiacos BC on the map almost single-handedly.

He joined the club in 1991, when the Reds didn't even participate in European competitions, and led the team to consecutive Greek league titles (1993, 1994) and the 1994 EuroLeague Final Four in Tel Aviv.

However, his career reputation was marred by the free throws he missed. He wasted seven attempts from the stripe in the EuroLeague final, where Olympiacos lost to Joventut Badalona (the biggest upset in the club's history to this date).

When he moved to Panathinaikos, he scored a basket and drew the foul in the Greens' last possession.

But his missed free throw kept PAO's lead to two points (74-72), and Olympiacos kept the home-court advantage for the playoffs that eventually gave them another title.

Watching Paspalj in the green jersey, Olympiacos' fans began to curse both his family and his home country, Serbia, which was still going through tough times because of the war. The crowd even made fun of him for his decision to change his shooting hand.

Paspalj, 29 at the time, kept his composure despite playing subpar. He scored 13 points (3/10 from the field, 7/13 free-throws) but delivered one of the iconic one-liners in Greek basketball history when asked why he shot the game-winner with his right hand even though he was left-handed.

"With my left hand, I was holding my balls," he quipped.

Dimitris Papanikolaou (2003-2004, Olympiacos-Panathinaikos 55-57)

Papanikolaou, once looked upon as one of the most talented and versatile Greek players, had famously vouched to never join Panathinaikos after spending seven years (1995-2002) in Piraeus. He ended up playing another four (2003-2007) for the Reds' main rivals.

His first visit to Olympiacos' gym was accompanied by strong reactions from home fans who wanted to remind him of the promise he didn't keep.

Papanikolaou, whose arrival at PAO was met with great apprehension due to his previous service in Piraeus, contributed two points (1/5 FGs) to his team's win in that game.

Ioannis Papapetrou (2018-19, Olympiacos-Panathinaikos 79-65)

Papapetrou moved to PAO in 2018 after spending the first five professional seasons of his career with Olympiacos.

The home fans tried to mess with his mind, and the recipe worked fine, as the Greek forward finished the derby with -4 in PIR and just two points. As the Reds had an easy night, fans took the chance to taunt Papapetrou for his poor performance.

"Nothing happened that I did not expect," he later told Walla Sports.

"I knew what I was going to face. Some people feel angry and don't like the decision I made. They're not happy with me, it's something I understand, and I'm OK with that. They certainly don't know the whole story and the reasons that influenced me to make this decision," he insisted.

"There were 10,000 people saying the same thing and shouting. It's something that doesn't really matter, but you just try to focus on the game."

Vassilis Spanoulis (2010-11, Panathinaikos-Olympiacos 61-65)

Spanoulis' return to OAKA with the red-and-white jersey was victorious, but his presence hardly made any real difference. The Larissa-born guard had four points on 1/7 from the field and 1/2 free throws, three rebounds, six assists, and three turnovers).

In a war-like atmosphere, Spanoulis' output against his former team sparked a conversation about his struggles at OAKA. Although the arguments had some validity, in hindsight (and starting from the 2011-12 season), the legendary player recorded some of his best games in the OAKA derbies.

The high point came in the 2016 finals when he scored two game-winning buzzer-beaters against Nick Calathes and Dimitris Diamantidis, PAO's best defenders and Spanoulis' ex-teammates.

* As Pablo Laso recently told BasketNews, Sloukas has made a difficult decision to change Olympiacos for Panathinaikos.

"But it's a decision that you take for the better," he added. "It's a big-money signing. It is never easy to make decisions in life. In the end, it's up to the brave to make decisions."

And it's up to the ones possessing a special charisma to back their decisions with their deeds and feats on the court.

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