Panathinaikos Athens found a stopper to reign in the paint by signing big man Stephan Lasme, who returns to the Euroleague after two years away. Lasme (2.03 meters, 29 years old) finished among the top vote-getters for the 2010 Best Defender Award after his last season with Maccabi Electra. He averaged 6.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and was third in the league with 1.4 blocks per game in a reserve role for Maccabi that season. He helped Partizan Belgrade and Maccabi to playoff appearances in both of his two previous Euroleague campaigns. Lasme is ranked second all-time with 1.46 blocks over his 39 career Euroleague games. Last season he played for Obradoiro CAB in the Spanish League, where he was worth 10.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 34 games.

Lasme had a successful college career at the University of Massachusetts, where he was named the Atlantic 10 conference's Defensive Player of the year in 2006 and 2007. He holds the record for most triple-doubles in one NCAA season along with Jason Kidd and Michael Anderson. He has also played for Golden State and Miami in the NBA, Los Angeles in the D-League and Spartak St. Petersburg in Russia. Among his career highlights have been helping Partizan win three titles – the Adriatic League, Serbian Radivoj Korac Cup and Serbian League – in the 2008-09 season and winning the 2010 Israeli Cup with Maccabi.