The Euroleague's 50 best players: 40-31

The Euroleague’s 50 best players: 40-31

ANTHONY RANDOLPH of Real Madrid during the Turkish Airlines Euroleague play-off quarter final series third match between Real Madrid and Panathinaikos Superfoods at the Wizink Center in Madrid, Spain on April 25, 2018 (Photo by Oscar Gonzalez/NurPhoto via Getty Images) /

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MALAGA, SPAIN – MARCH 30: Vassilis Spanoulis, #7 of Olympiacos Piraeus in action during the 2017/2018 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season Round 29 game between Unicaja Malaga and Olympiacos Piraeus at Martin Carpena Arena on March 30, 2018 in Malaga, Spain. (Photo by Mariano Pozo/EB via Getty Images) /

33. Vassilis Spanoulis, PG, Olympiacos

Nationality/College: Greek

2017-18 stats: 12.3 points, 1.6 rebounds, 5.5 assists per game (Olympiacos)

Career synopsis: It’s not a question of if Spanoulis’s jersey will hang in the rafters of Peace and Friendship Stadium — it’s when. Spanoulis is immortal in Greece. After a one-year stint with the Houston Rockets in 2007, “Kill Bill” solidified himself as arguably the best player in Europe of the 2010s. He has won three Euroleague titles (2009 with Panathinaikos and 2012 and 2013 with Olympiacos), and was Finals MVP each time. He won league MVP in 2013. He’s made three All-Euroleague First Teams and five more Second Teams. And his highlight reel of Euroleague and Greek League game-winners is 11 minutes long.

Representative Highlight Play:

What’s his skill set?: Spanoulis is the Chris Paul of Euroleague. No one balances the task of getting teammates involved and taking over games like he does. He’s 36 now, and the cracks are starting to show — he does nothing on defense anymore, and his speed is starting to go, meaning he has to work in more of a halfcourt, slow-pace offense to have success, and that’s meant that he’s become much more turnover prone. But he’s still one of the best game managers around, and you ABSOLUTELY cannot leave him on an island against a weak defender in the fourth quarter.

What makes him special?: He’s not what he once was, which is why he’s ranked this low. But Spanoulis is basically Euroleague Kobe. The rest of his game may be leaving him, but he’ll always be the guy Olympiacos wants to have the ball with the shot clock draining in a close game, and you can’t count Olympiacos out of anything because of that.

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