The Greek basketball legend Nikos Galis was born 23 July, 1957 in Union City, USA. The 183-centimeters-tall combo guard is one of the greatest scorers in basketball history. He spent the majority of his career with the Greek side Aris Thessaloniki (1979-1992), finishing his career with Panathinaikos (1992-1995).
After playing several seasons in the FIBA Korac Cup, Galis made his EuroLeague debut relatively late, at the age of 27 druing the 1983/84 season, scoring 180 points in 6 games, averaging 30.0 points per game as Aris were eliminated from the competition in the second round by Maccabi Tel-Aviv team. His amazing scoring efforts soon made Aris a serious threat for any opponent in the EuroLeague, as Galis won 6 EuroLeague Top Scorer (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994) titles during his career, which is an EuroLeague record to this day.
Galis led Aris to the EuroLeague bronze in 1988/89 season, overcoming the Barcelona in a 3rd place math-up 88-71. He won the bronze medals in the EuroLeague two more times as a member of Panathinaikos (1994, 1995) in his final seasons. In total, the Greek legend played 10 seasons in the EuroLeague, scoring 4049 points in 125 games, averaging an astonishing 32.4 points per game. In 2026, he is still #9 in the EuroLeague all-time leading scorer’s list, having played almost three times less games, as all the players ahead of him.
Internationally, Galis was the reason why Greece earned a recognition on the global basketball arena. He was the leading scorer of the Eurobasket (1983, 1987, 1989, 1991) four times, leading Greece to a championship in 1987, as Greeks were able to overcome the mighty Soviet Union team in the final of the tournament in Piraeus. Galis averaged 37.0 points per game that year, also winning the Eurobasket MVP award.
In his EuroLeague, Korac Cup, and international games from 1980 to 1995, Galis scored 6265 points in 191 games. In total, Galis scored 19 129 points in 575 games in his career on the club and the international level.
ACCOLADES
EuroLeague Top Scorer (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994)
EuroLeague (1989, 1994, 1995) FIBA Korac Cup (1985)
Eurobasket MVP (1987) FIBA World Cup Top Scorer (1986) Eurobasket Top Scorer (1983, 1987, 1989, 1991)
Eurobasket (1987)
Eurobasket (1989) Greek League Finals MVP (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991) Greek League MVP (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992) Greek League Top Scorer (1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991) Greek League (1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991) #1 in Greek League all-time Top Scorer’s list with 12 864 points
Year
83/84
85/86
86/87
87/88
88/89
89/90
90/91
91/92
93/94
94/95
TOT
Team
Age
27
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
37
38
GP
6
6
4
17
20
17
16
16
21
2
125
PPG
30.0
36.0
36.0
37.8
33.1
37.9
31.6
32.3
23.8
19.5
32.4
PTS
180
216
144
643
661
644
506
516
500
39
4049
RNK
14th
17th
23rd
100+
FIBA KORAC CUP STATISTICS
Year
80/81
81/82
82/83
84/85
TOT
Team
Age
24
25
26
28
GP
6
2
4
11
23
PPG
44.2
45.0
36.5
33.0
37.6
PTS
265
90
146
363
864
TRK
R16
2RD
2RD
GREEK LEAGUE STATISTICS
Year
79/80
80/81
81/82
82/83
83/84
84/85
85/86
86/87
87/88
88/89
89/90
90/91
91/92
92/93
93/94
94/95
TOT
Team
Age
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
GP
22
26
22
24
23
24
24
21
21
21
27
28
27
36
37
1
384
PPG
31.5
44.0
37.6
36.9
41.2
37.1
39.3
38.5
36.0
37.1
38.6
34.7
22.5
21.8
21.4
8.0
33.5
PTS
692
1143
828
869
948
891
944
808
756
780
1041
971
607
785
793
8
12864
TRK
FIBA WORLD CUP STATISTICS
Year
1986
TOT
Team
Age
29
GP
10
10
PPG
33.7
33.7
PTS
337
337
TRK
EUROBASKET STATISTICS
Year
1981
1983
1987
1989
1991
TOT
Team
Age
24
26
30
32
34
GP
8
7
8
5
5
33
PPG
19.9
33.6
37.0
35.6
32.6
30.8
PTS
159
235
280
178
163
1015
RNK
5th
Description for statistics
FIBA Saporta Cup is the same competition, as FIBA European Cup Winners’ Cup, ULEB Cup or EuroCup, a 2nd-tier European Cup competition. FIBA Korac Cup is the same competition as FIBA EuroChallenge, a 3rd-tier European Cup competition. GP – Games played PPG – Points per game PTS – Total points RNK – Individual scoring ranking TRK – Team ranking