By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos Piraeus legend and former captain Giorgos Printezis commented on the blockbuster signing of ex-teammate Kostas Sloukas by Reds’ archrival Panathinaikos Athens.
“Kostas is a big boy, he’s 33 years old. He’s mature. He took the decision he deemed it was the best for him, his family and his future,” Printezis said during the 2023 AegeanBall Festival that he organizes on his native island of Syros in Greece. “No one’s the same, no one can react the same.”
“Others may view this more emotionally, others more professionally. You can’t say that something is right and something is wrong,” Printezis added. He was a teammate of Sloukas on Olympiacos in 2008-2009, and 2011 to 2015 before the latter signed with Fenerbahce Beko. They reunited in 2020 and played together once more until the Greek forward retired from basketball in 2022.
Printezis and Sloukas were both members of the team that won the back-to-back EuroLeague championships in 2012 and 2013.
“On a personal note, we grew up together, we are humans above all. He took a decision he deemed it was the best for him,” Printezis also said.
Sloukas, 33, signed a three-year, €10 million mega deal to join Panathinaikos after spending the last three seasons with Olympiacos in his second stint with the team. He had talks with the Olympiacos management to potentially sign a contract extension but the two sides never reached an agreement. The Greek powerhouse officially bade its farewell to Sloukas Thursday (6/7).
Fenerbahce Beko extended an offer to Sloukas and Partizan Belgrade was also interested in the player. Eventually, the star guard accepted a superb contract from Panathinaikos.