By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
In a career packed with several team and individual achievements, emerging as the new leading scorer in all European club continental competitions was a special moment for Nando De Colo.
Early in the first quarter of Friday’s Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season Round 23 contest pitting LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne against Virtus Segafredo Bologna, the experienced French guard sank a couple of free throws to break the record held by legendary Nikos Galis. The previous all-time high stood at 4,904 points.
The French outfit celebrated the achievement on social media, following the standing ovation at Astroballe including team president and former player, Tony Parker.
Nando De Colo made history as the top scorer of all European continental competitions surpassing Greek Hall-of-Famer Nick Galis!
As they say in French "Chapeau"! https://t.co/0xn6wd4cLo
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) February 3, 2023
Ending up with a team-high 15 points behind 4/7 from the field was not enough to cap off the evening with a win. On the receiving end of two losses in the EuroLeague two-game week, ASVEL was forced down to 8-15, four games away from the Playoffs zone with 11 rounds to go in the Regular Season.
Nando De Colo overtakes Nikos Galis
A unique scoring machine, Galis split his points between the top-tier FIBA EuroLeague, formally labeled as the Champions Cup evolving into the modern-day Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, and FIBA Korac Cup. An inaugural member of the FIBA Hall of Fame and later inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as well, packing 33.2 points per game over 148 appearances is an unbreakable record. His club continental competition experience was centered on the long stint at Aris and wrapped up with Panathinaikos.
De Colo, 35, entered the new high in his 324th game played at the continental level, 266th in the EuroLeague, consequently a much lower average of points per game. A household name through the modern era of Europe’s premier club continental competition, champion in 2016 and 2019, leading scorer, season and Final Four MVP in 2015-16, he ranks third overall in scoring with 4,090 points trailing Juan Carlos Navarro and Vassilis Spanoulis. However, combined with points scored in other European club competitions, now proudly sits first on the all-time scoring list.
Back to France as a leading player for ASVEL after introducing himself to the European stage with Cholet, De Colo’s additional recorded buckets stretched to Fenerbahce Beko, CSKA and Valencia, competing abroad for a large chunk of his career.
Apart from putting up points in EuroLeague, he is the modern-era leader in both PIR with 4,613 and in sinking free throws with 93.3%, before the latest outing.
Making his way to the NBA for two seasons, he also logged 457 points for the Toronto Raptors and San Antonio Spurs in 2012-13 and 2013-14.
His illustrious career extends to the international level and is directly connected to plenty of success for France, from most recently capturing the silver medals in the 2020 Olympic Games back to the gold medals in the 2013 EuroBasket and second-place finish in the 2011 EuroBasket.
Photo Credit: EuroleagueBasketball.net