Olympiacos Piraeus power forward Georgios Printezis on Tuesday became just the fourth player in Turkish Airlines EuroLeague history to score 3,500 points in his career.
Printezis needed 7 points to reach the milestone goal before his team's home game against ALBA Berlin and he managed to surpass that by making one of his trademark floaters with 7:10 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Printezis joins his former teammate Vassilis Spanoulis, longtime FC Barcelona star Juan Carlos Navarro and Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul guard Nando De Colo in the exclusive 3,500-point club. Spanoulis is the EuroLeague's all-time top scorer, with 4,455 points. Navarro follows with 4,152 points, and De Colo ranks third with 3,638 points after his game on Thursday. Three active players – Sergio Llull of Real Madrid (3,219), Sergio Rodriguez of AX Armani Exchange Milan (3,192), and Paulius Jankunas of Zalgiris Kaunas (3,180) – follow Printezis.
Printezis grew up in the Olympiacos system and made his EuroLeague debut at age 17 in the opening round of the 2002-03 season. His role grew until Printezis helped Olympiacos reach its first Final Four of the new century in 2009. Printezis then played for Unicaja Malaga for two seasons before returning to Piraeus, changing Olympiacos's history forever.
None of his more than 3,500 points were more important than the two he scored in the last second of the 2012 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Championship Game between Olympiacos and CSKA Moscow. Losing by 19 points with 12 minutes left, Olympiacos went on a perfect comeback that ended with Printezis scoring the title-winning shot, his patented, iconic one-handed floater, with 0.7 seconds left in the season.
Printezis and Olympiacos managed to successfully defend the EuroLeague title in 2013, becoming the second team to do so in the 21st century, and reached two more championship games, in 2015 and 2017, to finish as runners-up. He was named to the 2016-17 All-EuroLeague First Team and to the 2010-20 EuroLeague All-Decade Team.