The fourth grouping of All-25 EuroLeague Team members is now official with Mike Batiste, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kyle Hines, Juan Carlos Navarro and Theo Papaloukas taking center stage. These all-time greats join the previously honored Luka Doncic, Milos Teodosic, Dejan Bodiroga, Georgios Printezis, Walter Tavares, Dimitris Diamantidis, Mike James, Vasilije Micic, Anthony Parker, Sergio Rodriguez, Nando De Colo, Sergio Llull, Ramunas Siskauskas, Vassilis Spanoulis and Nikola Vujcic. Only five spots remain on the All-25 EuroLeague Team and they will be announced next week.
The selection process for the All-25 EuroLeague Team combined the votes of EuroLeague head coaches who had won a championship, past All-Decade Team members and MVPs, media representatives and fans. The coaches and playing greats each made up 40% of the final vote, and the media and fans were 10% each.
Mike Batiste
Mike Batiste is synonymous with Panathinaikos’s glory days in the late 2000s. Having made his EuroLeague debut with Spirou Charleroi in the 2000-01 season, coach Zeljko Obradovic recruited him to Panathinaikos two years later. He became a staple of the Greens’ frontcourt for the best part of the next nine seasons, helping Panathinaikos reach another golden age. Batiste’s partnership with playmaker Dimitris Diamantidis remains unmatched, as the American won three EuroLeague titles with Panathinaikos.
In 2007, he had 12 points in the championship game against CSKA Moscow, including a key basket in the final minute. In 2009, Batiste had 19 points in 21 minutes in the semifinal against archrival Olympiacos Piraeus, paving the way to another shot at the title. In 2011, Batiste led Panathinaikos to its sixth star, getting 18 points and 6 rebounds in the championship game against Maccabi Tel Aviv. Batiste was chosen to the 2010-11 All-EuroLeague First Team and the 2011-12 All-EuroLeague Second Team. After a year with Fenerbahce Istanbul, Batiste returned to Athens for a 10th and final campaign with Panathinaikos, where he remains one of the biggest legends in club history.
Bogdan Bogdanovic
One of the best shooters in competition history, Bogdan Bogdanovic needed just five seasons to write his name into legend. He made his EuroLeague debut with Partizan Belgrade in the 2012-13 season and one year later was named the 2013-14 EuroLeague Rising Star after averaging 14.8 points per game. Bogdanovic then joined Fenerbahce Istanbul to play under Coach Zeljko Obradovic. In 2015, he helped Fenerbahce reach the Final Four for the first time in club history. Bogdanovic added a second consecutive Rising Star Trophy in 2015, something only two other players have achieved in EuroLeague history: Nikola Mirotic and, later, Luka Doncic.
One year after a championship game defeat to CSKA Moscow, Bogdanovic shined in Games 1 and 2 of the 2017 playoffs against Panathinaikos Athens in the Greek capital, getting a 35 PIR in each contest. At the Final Four, he had 14 points in the semifinal against Real Madrid and 17 in the title decider – again against CSKA – to help Fenerbahce lift its first EuroLeague trophy. Bogdanovic was chosen to the 2016-17 All-EuroLeague First Team and to the 2010-20 EuroLeague All-Decade Team.
Kyle Hines
Having helped change the way EuroLeague fans view size in the paint and open the doors for undersized big men, Kyle Hines has left a huge mark on Europe’s elite basketball competition. Officially listed at 1.98 meters, Hines is a center who won four EuroLeague championships, matching the record in the Final Four era. He holds another record by appearing in nine consecutive Final Fours.
A member of the EuroLeague 2010–20 All-Decade Team, Hines was renowned for his play on the defensive end of the floor as a three-time EuroLeague Best Defender (2016, 2018, 2022). He played for four clubs across a 14-season stretch in the EuroLeague, starting with Brose Bamberg in 2010-11, followed by championship-winning seasons at Olympiacos Piraeus in 2012 and 2013. He continued at CSKA Moscow, where in seven campaigns between 2013 and 2020 he lifted the EuroLeague trophy in 2016 and 2019. Hines finished his career in 2024 after four years with EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, finally accumulating 425 appearances, 3,339 points, 1,855 rebounds, 510 assists, 287 steals and 320 blocks.
Juan Carlos Navarro
One of the most iconic figures in the history of the competition, Juan Carlos Navarro’s illustrious career with FC Barcelona saw him win EuroLeague championships in 2003 and 2010 and the EuroLeague MVP award in 2009. A deadly shooter with a signature one-legged floater dubbed “La Bomba”, Navarro revolutionized the European guard position with his scoring prowess and leadership.
When he retired in 2018, Navarro was the EuroLeague’s career leader in scoring and three-pointers made. In his 17 EuroLeague seasons – all with Barcelona – Navarro was named to the All-EuroLeague First Team a record five times and he earned two Second Team nods, too. He led the league in scoring in the 2006-07 season and Navarro’s trophy case also includes the 2010 Final Four MVP and three MVP of the Month honors. One of only two players to have earned a spot on both the 2000-10 and the 2010-20 EuroLeague All-Decade Teams, Navarro’s clutch performances and longevity made him a club legend and a symbol of EuroLeague excellence.
Theo Papaloukas
Theo Papaloukas’s presence forever impacted European basketball as he introduced the concept of game-changing sixth-men. The clever playmaker started in only 20 of his 252 appearances in the EuroLeague, however, that did not stop him from earning EuroLeague MVP honors in the 2006-07 season, nor leading CSKA Moscow to EuroLeague championships in 2006 and 2008.
Papaloukas was the Final Four MVP in the first of those two, which memorably ended CSKA’s 35-year title drought. And as much as he has cemented his status as a legend in Moscow, where he spent a total of seven seasons, Papaloukas is even more so a legend with Olympiacos Piraeus, the club where he made his EuroLeague debut and later led to Final Four appearances in 2009 and 2010. A member of the EuroLeague 2000-2010 All-Decade Team, Papaloukas was also selected to All-EuroLeague teams in three of his 12 seasons in the competition and he twice led the EuroLeague in assists.
Post your comment
Visualizza commenti