Early years A native of
Athens, Greece, Papaloukas began his big career at the small local Athens junior team Ethnikos Ellinoroson. He then played for another small, but at the time rising club, called
Ampelokipoi, with whom he began his pro career in 1995. He then transferred to
Dafni of the
Greek 2nd Division in 1997, and transferred again two years later to
Panionios, a traditional basketball club of the
top-tier level Greek Basket League. With
Dafni, Papaloukas won the
Greek 2nd Division title, and the Greek 2nd Division Player of the Year award, in the 1998–99 season. In 2001, Papaloukas finally moved to
Olympiacos, a long-time Greek League power, as well as one of the perennial contenders in the
EuroLeague. With
Olympiacos, he led the
Greek Basket League in assists in the 2000–01 and 2001–02 seasons. After the 2001–02 season, he left
Olympiacos, and moved to another
EuroLeague powerhouse, the
Russian Super League A club
CSKA Moscow, in 2002.
CSKA Moscow After three disappointing years, at the club level, Papaloukas was a main factor helping the team win the
2005–06 EuroLeague title, the club's first EuroLeague title in 35 years, with a clutch performance in the
2006 Final Four - 19 points in the semifinal against
FC Barcelona, and another 18 points at the final against the then back-to-back
European champions,
Maccabi Tel Aviv, which led to him being awarded him the
Final Four MVP award; after he was also named the best
point guard of the EuroLeague for that season. Alongside him on the All-EuroLeague First Team, were the best
shooting guard,
Juan Carlos Navarro of
Barça, the best
small forward,
Anthony Parker of Maccabi (the
2005–06 EuroLeague MVP), the best
power forward,
Luis Scola of
TAU Cerámica, and the best
center,
Nikola Vujčić of Maccabi. In 2007, Papaloukas was voted the
EuroLeague MVP of
2006–07 EuroLeague season.
CSKA advanced to the
final against
Panathinaikos, which was held on the Greens' home court, the
Athens Olympic Indoor Hall (which had been chosen as the site more than a year in advance). Panathinaikos won the game, by a score of 93–91, in a very exciting game. Papaloukas scored 23 points and dished out 8 assists, but a number of
sportswriters intimated that he did not receive adequate support from his CSKA teammates, and thus his team lost the final. Papaloukas was also a key member of CSKA's
2007–08 EuroLeague championship team. Papaloukas was then pursued in
free agency by the
NBA clubs the
Boston Celtics,
Los Angeles Lakers,
Milwaukee Bucks, and the
Miami Heat to fill their point guard spot. However, on 7 July 2007 Greek newspapers reported that Papaloukas agreed to a newly structured 3-year contract with CSKA, worth
€10.5 million
net income.
Olympiacos On 20 June 2008, one year after his contract extension with CSKA, Papaloukas used an option to leave his contract with no buyout to sign a three-year contract with
Olympiacos with an annual salary of
€3.5 million
net income. In the first two years of his contract, he helped Olympiacos reach the
EuroLeague Final Four, averaging 8 points and 5.2 assists in the EuroLeague
2008–09 season, and 7.4 points and 5.1 assists in the EuroLeague
2009–10 season. In the third, and last, year of his contract, the team failed to advance to the EuroLeague Final Four, losing 3 games to 1 to
Montepaschi Siena in the EuroLeague quarterfinal playoffs, despite having the home court advantage.
Maccabi Tel Aviv On 13 August 2011 Papaloukas signed a contract with the Israeli team
Maccabi Tel Aviv, the
finalists of the
2010–11 EuroLeague. In Macccabi, Papaloukas didn't get much playing-time, averaging only 9.1 minutes per game in the
EuroLeague, and playing in only 8
Israeli Super League 2011–12 season games. The shortage of playing-time led to his release, after only one disappointing season with the yellows.
Back to CSKA Moscow In December 2012, Papaloukas was invited to a tryout with
CSKA Moscow. He was signed by the team, and then officially returned to the court in a EuroLeague game against
Anadolu Efes, on 28 December 2012. After the end of the
2013 EuroLeague Final Four in London, he announced his retirement from playing professional basketball, effective at the end of the season. ==National team career==