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Serbian basketball players who played for Panathinaikos

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Dejan Bodiroga celebrates after winning the EuroLeague title with Panathinaikos

The connection between the Serbian basketball school and Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos is unbreakable, primarily reflected through the five EuroLeague titles won under coach Zeljko Obradovic. However, aside from Obradovic, many Serbian players also contributed to building the legend of the championship-winning Panathinaikos — and they are the focus of this article.

ZARKO PASPALJ

The first Serbian basketball players in Panathinaikos were Žarko Paspalj and Miroslav Pecarski during the 1994–95 season. That year, the club finished third in the EuroLeague. Paspalj’s transfer from archrival Olympiacos caused a real sensation and, unsurprisingly, angered the Piraeus fans. His season in the green jersey was disappointing, and he joined Panionios the following year.

MIROSLAV PECARSKI

In the same summer that Paspalj arrived, Miroslav Pecarski also joined the Greens. In Greece, he played under the name Miroslav Mylonas, having obtained Greek citizenship. Pecarski stayed for two seasons and, in the second (1995–96), became a EuroLeague champion with the Greek giant.

DEJAN BODIROGA

One of the best foreign players in Panathinaikos history is undoubtedly Dejan Bodiroga. He played for PAO from 1998 to 2002, helping the team win two EuroLeague titles and reach another SuproLeague final. His name still commands great respect among Panathinaikos fans.

Bodiroga is also one of the players with the most points in the history of the Serbian national team, and about that in a separate text:

Top 10 scorers in the history of the Serbian national basketball team

ZELJKO REBRACA

Alongside Željko Obradović’s arrival on the bench, one of Europe’s best centers, Željko Rebrača, joined the team. He played for the club from 1999 to 2001 and was a key player in the 2000 EuroLeague triumph and the run to the SuproLeague final a year later. Rebrača was named Final Four MVP in 2000.

DEJAN TOMASEVIC

Tomašević joined Panathinaikos in 2005 as an already established player and stayed until 2008. His brightest moment came in 2007, when the team won the EuroLeague title.

After the end of his basketball career, Tomasevic entered politics, and more about that in a separate text:

Serbian athletes who became politicians

MILOS VUJANIC

Another member of the 2007 championship roster was Serbian guard Miloš Vujanić. He played for PAO in the 2006–07 season, winning the EuroLeague, Greek League, and Greek Cup.

DUSAN KECMAN

Dušan Kecman’s stellar performances for Partizan earned him a move to Panathinaikos, where he played in the 2008–09 season with limited minutes. Nevertheless, he can boast the 2009 EuroLeague title. He later returned to Partizan, where he became team captain and hit a legendary buzzer-beater in Zagreb to win the ABA League title.

MILENKO TEPIC

When Milenko Tepić joined PAO, he was a European vice-champion with Serbia and one of the continent’s top young guards. He played in Athens from 2009 to 2011 but never quite reached the expected level. His greatest achievement remains the 2011 EuroLeague title.

ALEKSANDAR PAVLOVIC

When Serbian basketball legend Aleksandar “Saša” Đorđević took over as coach of Panathinaikos, he brought with him a Serbian trio — Pavlović, Kuzmić, and Raduljica. Pavlović, who had previously played ten NBA seasons and two with Partizan, was nearing the end of his career but still contributed 5.6 points per game in 17 EuroLeague minutes on average.

MIROSLAV RADULJICA

Raduljica also played for Panathinaikos during the 2015–16 season, averaging 12.7 points in around 20 minutes per EuroLeague game. He won the Greek Cup in 2016.

OGNJEN KUZMIC

The only Serbian player to have won both an NBA ring and a EuroLeague title, Kuzmic averaged around 5 points per game during the 2015–16 season with PAO. Despite a disappointing year in Athens, he later joined Crvena zvezda and found much more success.

NEMANJA NEDOVIC

Nedović played for Panathinaikos from 2020 to 2022 and had several high-scoring performances during that span. He won one Greek League title and one Greek Cup — where he was the top scorer in the final. In the EuroLeague, he averaged around 15 points per game.

STEFAN JOVIC

One of the best playmakers in EuroLeague history, Jović signed with Panathinaikos in 2022 after a long injury absence. In four EuroLeague games, he averaged 3.5 points and 2.2 assists, while in the Greek League he posted 3.4 points and 2 assists per game.

Jović is one of the players with the most games played for the Serbian national team, and about that in the text below:

Players with the most appearances for the Serbian national basketball team

OTHERS

Finally, let’s mention a few more players connected to Serbia who played for Panathinaikos:

In the 1996–97 season, Saša Marković — born in Tuzla and listed online as a player for Bosnia and Herzegovina — joined PAO from Partizan.

Also worth mentioning are former Greek internationals of Serbian descent, Dušan Šakota and Vladimir Janković. Šakota played for PAO from 2003 to 2007 and again in 2008–09, winning two EuroLeague titles. Janković wore the green jersey from 2013 to 2016, claiming one Greek League title and four Cups.

Former Partizan players Vlado Šćepanović, Nikola Peković (Montenegro), and Aleks Marić (Australia) also left their mark at Panathinaikos. Peković won the 2009 EuroLeague title, while Marić achieved the same feat two years later.

Finally, American guard DeMarcus Nelson, who holds Serbian citizenship, played for PAO in the 2014–15 season after leaving Crvena zvezda and won the Greek Cup with the team.

That Serbia and Greece are connected not only through sports, but also through culture and music, is shown by the numerous covers of Greek songs — which you can read more about in a separate article:

Serbian covers of Greek songs

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