Antonis Fotsis

Born in Maroussi, Athens, Fotsis began his career as one of the biggest European prospects. Fotsis began his professional career in 1996, with the Greek League club Ilysiakos. He quickly earned a reputation as a very talented young player when playing in the club's senior team. He then transferred to the Greek club Panathinaikos (PAO) in 1997, just at the age of sixteen. It is a fact of significant importance that he started his career as a point guard, and later moved to the small forward, and then power forward positions. Due to his early guard playing status, he was later always recognized as one of the best power forwards in Europe, regarding basketball technique. While being the most dominant-youth aged talent in Greece at the time, he twice participated in the Nike Hoop Summit All-World Team (1998, 1999). He got little playing time in his first two seasons with Panathinaikos, but he managed to become one of the team's key players during the 1999–00 season. With Panathinaikos, he won the EuroLeague championship that same season, while being barely nineteen. One year later, he became a starter on the Panathinaikos team that made it to the FIBA SuproLeague's Finals.

Fotsis was selected by the Vancouver Grizzlies (who were relocated to Memphis right after the draft) in the 2nd round (48th overall) of the 2001 NBA draft.[2] In his one and only season in the NBA, he appeared in 28 games for the Grizzlies during the 2001–02 NBA season, averaging 3.9 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. He scored a career high 21 points against the Orlando Magic on January 19, 2002. His final NBA game was on April 17, 2002, in a 94–109 loss to the Seattle SuperSonics, in which he recorded 10 points and 6 rebounds.

After spending the 2001–02 season in the NBA with the Memphis Grizzlies, he returned to Panathinaikos for the 2002–03 season, and became one of the team's leaders, while scoring an average of 14.5 points per game in EuroLeague. With PAO, he won both the Greek Cup and the Greek League championship that year. In 2003, he moved to the Spanish League club Real Madrid.

With Real Madrid, he was one of the key contributors on the teams that made it to the EuroCup Finals in 2004, and won the Spanish League championship in 2005. In 2005, he then transferred to the Russian Superleague club Dynamo Moscow. With Dynamo Moscow, Fotsis was one of the two leaders of the Russian team, along with fellow Greek player Lazaros Papadopoulos.

Fotsis won the EuroCup championship in 2006 with Dynamo. One year later, he reached the EuroLeague quarterfinals with Dynamo, where his team lost to Panathinaikos. On March 21, 2007, in a winner-take-all EuroLeague 2006–07 season showdown with Italian League power Benetton Treviso, for second place in their Top 16 group, and a place in the quarterfinals, Fotsis scored 22 points, and set a single-game EuroLeague post year 2000 record with 24 rebounds, helping Dynamo score a 68-65 overtime win.[3]

In 2008, he returned to Panathinaikos. It was his second return to the club, and he was in the starting lineup for the team, as they won the coveted Triple Crown during the 2008–09 season. Fotsis was a key contributor to the Triple Crown winners, with his good defensive play and clutch baskets. He also played more minutes than any other "Greens" player in the 2009 EuroLeague Final Four. In the 2009–10 season, Panathinaikos again won the Greek League championship. That same season, Fotsis was named the Greek League MVP for the month of April. He played more minutes than any other "Greens" player in the EuroLeague that season, showing his defensive skills as well.[4]

In July 2011, he signed with Olimpia Milano of the Italian League, for two seasons.[5] On July 2, 2013, Panathinaikos announced that they had signed Fotsis for three seasons.[6] In 2016, Fotsis signed a new two-year contract with Panathinaikos.[7] On July 25, 2017, he parted ways with Panathinaikos.[8]

In August 2017, he announced his return to Ilysiakos, the first team of his professional career back in 1996.[9]

• 3× EuroLeague Champion: (2000, 2009, 2011)
• 10× Greek League Champion: (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2017)
• 6× Greek Cup Winner: (2003, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017)
  • Triple Crown Winner: (2009)
• Spanish League Champion: (2005)
• EuroCup Champion: (2006)

• 2× Nike Hoop Summit All-World Team: (1998, 1999)
• Greek League Best Young Player: (2001)
• 4× EuroLeague Player of the Week
• 6× Greek League All-Star: (2001, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014)
• FIBA EuroStar: (2007)
• FIBA EuroStars Top Scorer: (2007)
• Greek League All-Star Game MVP: (2011)
• Italian League All-Star: (2012)
• Greek League Hall of Fame: (2022)
• Holds the Euroleague Basketball Company era Single Game Rebounding Record: (24) (only counts games played since the 2000–01 season)

• 1998 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship:  Bronze

• 9× Acropolis Tournament Champion: (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013)
• 3× Acropolis Tournament MVP: (2002, 2008, 2011)
• 2005 EuroBasket:  Gold
• 2006 Stanković World Cup:  Gold
• 2006 FIBA World Championship:  Silver
• 2009 EuroBasket:  Bronze