Dwayne Bacon benched by Panathinaikos head coach Christos Serelis / News - Basketnews.com

Dwayne Bacon has been in a slump recently, averaging just 1.7 PIR in the last three games.

Credit: Vangelis Stolis Credit Vangelis Stolis

Panathinaikos Athens are playing against Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade in OAKA. However, they will have to do it without one of their leaders.

Dwayne Bacon

MIN:31.27PTS:17.36 (48.09%)REB:3.55As:1.59ST:0.64BL:0.18TO:1.36GM:22ProfileEuroLeague2022/2023

The team's head coach Christos Serelis has made a decision to bench Dwayne Bacon.

Bacon has been in a slump recently, averaging just 1.7 PIR during the last three games.

Before the Greek Cup Final Eight, in a total of 28 games across all competitions, Bacon had 16.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2 assists and 1.2 turnovers on 40% from the field, 34.1% on three-pointers and 81.3% on free throws in 29 minutes.

In Panathinaikos ' last six games, Bacon has just 9.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.7 turnovers per game, averaging 31.7% on FG, 26.7% on 3-pointe shots and 75% from the charity stripe in less than 27 minutes of participation.

"We're trying to put Bacon in a different team mode. I won't judge what happened before. It's not easy from one day to the next. It takes time," assistant coach Kostas Mexas told after the game against AS Monaco.

"There will be days when he will do better and days when he will do worse. We have to find a balance to get things from Bacon," he said. "The coach wants the team game and Dwayne needs to adapt to that."

The team is expected to hire a new general manager in the upcoming days with Sani Becirovic taking over the vacancy after head coach Dejan Radonjic was let go.

With 8 wins and 19 losses, Panathinaikos are currently 16th in the EuroLeague standings.

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