Thessaloniki is building again. For decades, the city that once stood at the heart of Greek basketball has watched the biggest domestic prizes move south. Now, Aris and PAOK are entering a new era with ambitions that could finally change that.
PAOK has Andrea Trinchieri on the bench and has made a major statement in the transfer market. Nick Calathes and Cedi Osman headline the arrivals, while Naz Mitrou-Long, Kyle Alexander and other experienced additions have strengthened a roster built to compete at a much higher level.
Aris has responded with Vassilis Spanoulis. Nenad Dimitrijevic, Matt Morgan, Khem Birch, Thanasis and Kostas Antetokounmpo are among the names joining a project that suddenly looks much more ambitious than it did a year ago.
When Thessaloniki was the center of Greek basketball
There was a time when the biggest basketball story in Greece was not happening in Athens or Piraeus. It was happening in Thessaloniki.
Aris became the undisputed powerhouse of Greek basketball in that era, winning eight championships between 1979 and 1990 and building one of the most recognizable teams in European basketball. Nikos Galis, Panagiotis Giannakis and Giannis Ioannidis became synonymous with an era that transformed the sport in Greece.
Aris also reached three consecutive European Cup Final Fours between 1988 and 1990, turning Thessaloniki into one of the most important basketball cities in Europe. And while Aris dominated the decade, PAOK was developing into its fiercest local rival.
The Thessaloniki derby became one of the defining rivalries in Greek basketball, with both clubs fighting for trophies, prestige and control of the city.
34 years since Thessaloniki last ruled Greece
PAOK eventually had its own moment at the top. In 1992, the club won the Greek Basket League, becoming the last team from Thessaloniki to lift the league trophy. Since then, neither Aris nor PAOK has been able to repeat that success. That means 34 years without a Greek championship returning to Thessaloniki.
The turning point came around the same period. After leaving Aris in 1991, Giannis Ioannidis moved to Olympiacos and began building a new powerhouse in Piraeus. He won four consecutive Greek championships with the club between 1993 and 1996.
Aris, meanwhile, never won the Greek league again after Ioannidis’ departure. The club did lift the Greek Cup in 1992 and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1993, but the domestic championship that had once seemed almost inevitable in Thessaloniki never returned. The center of gravity had shifted.
Since then, the Greek championship has been overwhelmingly dominated by Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, leaving Thessaloniki with memories of what once was and two clubs still searching for a way back.
Now, that search looks different. PAOK has Trinchieri, Calathes and Osman. Aris has Spanoulis and a revamped roster. Both clubs are investing, recruiting established names and trying to build something that can last.
So the question is no longer simply whether Thessaloniki remembers its basketball glory. Can Aris or PAOK finally break the Olympiacos-Panathinaikos monopoly?
It will be far from easy, however, with neither Olympiacos nor Panathinaikos showing signs of decline – quite the opposite, as both have dominated not only Greece but European basketball in recent years.
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