By Stavros Barbarousis/ info@eurohoops.net
Slovenian former player Sani Becirovic is leaving the post of sports director in Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana and he is expected to be announced soon as the new general manager of Panathinaikos.
Per Eurohoops sources, Becirovic has arrived in Athens today, he is expected to be in the gym for the EuroLeague game between the Greens and Crvena Zvezda and his hiring is expected to become official in the next few days.
Becirovic will replace Argiris Pedoulakis and will start building the team for the next season with the current coach Christos Serelis staying as an assistant.
The top target of Panathinaikos for the head coach position remains Pablo Laso, however, there’s no deal yet with him and the talks about a possible collaboration will probably pick up speed in the summer with the outcome not yet determined.
A EuroLeague champion with Panathinaikos
Becirovic who was plagued by injuries during his playing days was part of the Panathinaikos roster which won the 2007 EuroLeague.
An impressive talent, he was drafted in the second round back in 2003 by the Denver Nuggets. However, he never played in the NBA mainly because of injuries.
Right after retiring from being a professional basketball player, Bečirovic returned to Panathinaikos, where he worked as an assistant coach of Sasa Djordjevic in the 2015-19 season.
Since the summer of 2019, he is the sports director of Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana.