George Papas (; born March 15, 1998) is a

Greek American Greek Americans ( ''Ellinoamerikanoí'' ''Ellinoamerikánoi'' ) are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. There is an estimate of 1.2 million Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. According to the US census, 264,066 people o ...

professional basketball player for

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan-Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis''), ...

of the

Greek Basketball League The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the Hellenic Basketball Associat ...

and the EuroCup. Standing at tall, he plays at the

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

position.

Early life

Papas was born in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

, to Alexis Maloney and

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

-born Stefanos Papathanasiou. He has a brother years his elder named Tommy, who played for

Mykonos Mykonos (, ; ) is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island has an area of and rises to an elevation of at its highest point. At the 2021 census, there were 10,704 inhabitants, most of ...

in the

Greek B Basket League The Greek B Basket League, or Greek B Basketball League (Greek language, Greek: Ελληνική Β Μπασκετ Λιγκ), is a national basketball league in Greece. It is the Greek basketball league system, 3rd-tier level of the basketball leag ...

and for William & Mary on college level.

College career

He reached the 1,000-point plateau for the Hawks in February against Marist. He also competed in the Dos Equis 3X3U 3-on-3 competition at the 2022 Final Four, the first Hawk ever selected to the event. He is also known for his antics on November 15, 2019, when Papas took the ball from Kansas point guard while time expired, to dunk the ball at the end of the game. The incident is widely regarded as classless and disrespectful, due to the “unwritten” rules of basketball.

Professional career

On August 14, 2022, he signed a two-year deal, his first professional contract, with

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

of the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the Greek basketball league system, first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the ...

and the

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

. In October 2022, he celebrated the first title of his professional career, which was the

Greek Super Cup The Greek Super Cup (), formerly known as the Friendship and Solidarity Cup () is a Greek association football one-match competition, which is contested annually either between the champions of the previous Super League Greece season and the hold ...

, in the Final 4 of

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

. On October 10, 2022, he made his debut in the

, in the away match against

Apollon Patras :''The first version of this article has been based in the text of :el:Α.Σ. Απόλλων of the :el:Κύρια Σελίδα, Greek Wikipedia published under the GFDL.'' A.S. Apollon Patras (Greek language, Greek:''A.Σ. Απόλλων Πατ ...

. He contributed 6 points, one rebound and one assist in 10 minutes of action in his team's 61–87 victory. On December 12, 2022, Papas made his

debut in the

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...

game win against Fenerbahçe, playing 2:51 minutes and scoring 2 points. In February 2023, he won another title with Olympiakos, that of the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

in the Final 8 of Crete. On January 16, 2024, Papas was released from Olympiacos and joined Promitheas Patras.

International career

On November 7, 2022, Papas was called up for the first time by

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

for the 2023 World Cup qualifiers against

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, without making an appearance. He was called up again for the last two qualifiers on February. He made his debut against

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

on February 24, 2023, using his full surname on his jersey (Papathanasiou). Three days later against

he scored his first points. A three-point shot.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

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References

External links

*
George Papas
at

Euroleague.net The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

George Papas
at Olympiacosbc.gr
George Papas
– college basketball player statistics at

Sports Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey ...

*
"Monmouth's George Papas and college basketball's most infamous dunk"
at

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Papas, George 1998 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century Greek sportsmen American expatriate basketball people in Greece American men's basketball players American people of Greek descent Basketball players from Jersey City, New Jersey Greek Basket League players Greek men's basketball players Monmouth Hawks men's basketball players Olympiacos B.C. players Peristeri B.C. players Promitheas Patras B.C. players Shooting guards Sportspeople of Greek descent Union Catholic Regional High School alumni