ATHENS (Greece) - Kostas Sloukas takes every opportunity he can to return to his true love - the Greece national team. And while the 35-year-old is excited about the upcoming FIBA EuroBasket 2025, Sloukas would cherish finally picking up some national team hardware.
Sloukas will be one of Greece's main leaders when they open the EuroBasket in Cyprus on August 27. And the Panathinaikos Athens playmaker always loves coming back to his Hellas brethren.
"For me, it's love. I've said it many times. I've represented the national team since I was 12 years old. And in all those years, I've only missed when I had a truly serious issue," Sloukas told the Greek publication Gazzetta.
"It's pride. It's the representation of every Greek. It's a big challenge - a huge one."
As much as Sloukas enjoys playing for his country - this will be his sixth EuroBasket on top of two FIBA Basketball World Cups - he still hasn't stood on the podium at a major event.
"For me, it's love."
"Obviously, I miss a success with the national team - I won't hide it. But right now, that feels very far away," Sloukas said more than three weeks before the start of the tournament. "I'm optimistic by nature. And I want to believe that luck will be on our side."
Greece's last medal at a major event dates back to EuroBasket 2009, when they took third place. Sloukas made his senior debut two years later at the 2011 EuroBasket.
And that came after an illustrious youth career which included winning the FIBA U18 EuroBasket 2008 and FIBA U20 EuroBasket 2009 and taking second at the U18 EuroBasket in 2007, the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2009 and the U20 EuroBasket in 2010.
The Greek senior team has been eliminated at the Quarter-Finals stage in the 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2022 EuroBasket. In 2015, they were perfect in the group stage but lost to Spain in the final eight.
Star Giannis Antetokounmpo was just 20 years old at the 2015 event but he was the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player when Greece failed to reach the top eight of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019. And Antetokounmpo was just one year removed from being the NBA champion when Greece fell to hosts Germany in the EuroBasket 2022 Quarter-Finals.
One thing that makes Sloukas confident this run might be different is having Vassilis Spanoulis as head coach - Sloukas' first big event with his former teammate on the sidelines as he missed the 2024 Olympics.
"The fact that Spanoulis is our coach inspires confidence," said Sloukas, who also played with Spanoulis for four years at Olympiacos Piraeus. "The goal is to become the coach's team. To fight with everything we’ve got."
And perhaps at the end of the tournament on September 14, Kostas Sloukas will finally have a national team medal around his neck.
FIBA