Father Time catching up with Spanoulis?
After suffering a season-ending injury, AGONAsport’s Peter Katsiris takes a look at the injuries that have hampered Vassilis Spanoulis over the past few campaigns.
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Olympiacos’ challenging 2019/2020 season got all the much worse earlier this month when Vassilis Spanoulis underwent season-ending ankle surgery.
The EuroLeague’s All-Time top scorer suffered a tendon rupture in his right ankle in the EuroLeague clash with Zalgiris Kaunas, a similar injury he suffered last season.
While it hasn’t always been ankle injuries that have kept Spanoulis on the sidelines, the 37-year-old has been sidelined on several occasions since he joined the Erythrolefki in 2010.
Spanoulis’ first stint on the sidelines while at Olympiacos came at a cost for the Ethniki in 2011 as an abdominal injury late in the season cost Spanoulis a place on the Greece roster at EuroBasket 2011.
The injury bug didn’t bite again until March 2015 when Spanoulis suffered a knee injury during practice after bumping knees with teammate Vassilis Kavvadas. Opting to play through the injury just days later, problems were compounded for Spanoulis as he suffered a partial rupture in his right knee and being forced to miss Olympiacos’ final six games of the EuroLeague Top-16. Despite missing nearly a month-and-a-half of action, Spanoulis returned to lead in time to lead Olympiacos to the EuroLeague Final Four and a spot in the Final against Real Madrid.
Spanoulis was back on the injured list to start the 2017/2018 season when he suffered a tibial bone edema that forced him to miss the first two months of the season. Spanoulis would eventual make his return in the tenth round of the EuroLeague after Olympiacos had started the season with an impressive 7-2 record.
Despite remaining healthy for the first six-and-a-half months of the 2018/2019 season, Spanoulis suffered a devastating injury in April after requiring season-ending surgery for a peroneal tendon rupture in his right ankle.
While Spanoulis is associated with many glorious moments in Olympiacos’ recent history, the injuries are starting to mount for the EuroLeague’s best-ever player and at this rate it might be only a matter of time for Kill Bill to call time on an illustrious career.
