His special achievements Kostas Sloukas in the Euroleague and his chance to catch Sarounas Jasikevicius at the top was analyzed by the organizing authority before the grand final between Panathinaikou AKTOR and Real Madrid.
In detail, what the Euroleague mentions in its tribute to the Greek guard: “Kostas Sloukas of Panathinaikos already belongs to the golden pages of EuroLeague records. By reaching an eighth final for the title, Slukas has done something no player has achieved since the late 1970s. He has competed for the title with Olympiakos in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2023 and with Fenerbahce in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and now with Panathinaikos.
Entering this season, he tied Matias Smodis for the most finals appearances (7). Smodis reached two finals with Virtus Bologna (2001, 2002), one with Fortitudo Bologna (2004) and four with CSKA Moscow (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Yule will also play their respective seventh finals against Real Madrid today.
We have to go back a long way to find players with at least eight finals appearances. Most of them are from Varese, who reached 10 consecutive European Cup finals from 1970 to 1979. Dino Meneghin leads the list with 13 appearances: 10 with Varese and three with Armani Milano. Only Aldo Osola (10) and Clifford Luke (9) have played in more top-flight league games since the pan-European competitions were introduced in 1958.
Slukas has a golden opportunity to win the EuroLeague title with three different teams. He previously lifted the trophy with Olympiakos (2012, 2013) and Fenerbahce (2017). Sarunas Jasikevicius is the only other player to win the EuroLeague with three different teams: Barcelona (2003), Maccabi Tel Aviv (2004, 2005) and Panathinaikos (2009).
Slukas can also become the 17th player to win four or more EuroLeague titles. Only two players have won four titles in the 21st century: Jasikevicius and Kyle Hines, who was Sluka’s teammate at Olympiakos in 2012 and 2013, and won it again with CSKA in 2016 and 2019.
From a statistical point of view, Slukas also consolidates his position among the greats. He ranks second in free throws, third in assists, fifth in PIR and seventh in scoring among all players in Final Four games this century. With 49 free throws, Slukas is 10 behind Nando De Colo for the most Final Fours in history. His 64 assists trail only two of his opponents tonight, Sergio Yule (70) and Sergio Rodriguez (74). With his PIR at 172, he needs 17 more points to catch fourth place Thodoris Papaloukas. And in points scored, Slukas has 167, but with 13 points he’ll move past Juan Carlos Navarro, Langdon and De Colo for fourth».
Source: Sport Fm
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