Ioannis Bourousis, commonly known asGiannis Bourousis (alternate spelling: Yannis,Greek: Ιωάννης "Γιάννης" Μπουρούσης; born November 17, 1983) is a Greek former professionalbasketball player and basketball executive. He is thegeneral manager of the Greek basketball clubASK Karditsa. During his playing career, at a height of 7 ft3⁄4 in (2.15 m) tall[1][2][3] and a weight of 270 lb. (122 kg), Bourousis played at thecenter position. Bourousis, who was a two-timeAll-EuroLeague First Team selection, was compared toFIBA Hall of Fame /Basketball Hall of Fame centerVlade Divac, bySan Antonio Spurs' head coachGregg Popovich.[4]
Bourousis was on the seniorGreek national team that won the gold medal at2005 FIBA EuroBasket inSerbia, and he also played an instrumental role as Greece won the bronze medal at the2009 FIBA EuroBasket. He was also a member of the Greek national teams that finished in fourth place at the2007 FIBA EuroBasket, and in fifth place at the2008 Summer Olympics. The indoor basketball arenaGiannis Bourousis Karditsa New Indoor Arena, which is located inKarditsa, Greece, is named after him, in his honor.
Bourousis originally began his athletic career training to be a professionalswimmer, but he grew too tall for the sport, and so he took up playing basketball, at the age of 18. He began playing basketball as a member of theyouth clubs of the Greek clubG.S. Karditsas.
Bourousis began his professional career in the year 2001, withAEK Athens of theGreek Basketball League. In 2006, he transferred toFC Barcelona of theSpanish ACB League. Later that same year, he joined the GreekEuroLeague clubOlympiacos Piraeus.
In 2009, he was offered a 3-year $12 million contract[5] by theNBA club theSan Antonio Spurs.[6] However, he turned down San Antonio's offer, and instead signed a 3-year contract extension with Olympiacos worth€5.1 million eurosnet income.[7][8] The contract contained a €1 million buyout amount, which could only be used to sign with anNBA team.[9] After 5 years withOlympiacos, the club decided to terminate his contract.
In the summer of 2011, just weeks before signing withOlimpia Milano, Bourousis was involved in a doping-related media controversy in Greece, after an unrelatedfootball match-fixing probe of his (then future) father-in-law, Makis Psomiadis.[10][11] However, Bourousis was quickly cleared of any suspected wrongdoing, after he submitted to drug testing forFIBA protocols, which are overseen by theWorld Anti-Doping Agency, in order to be cleared to play with theGreek national team at the2011 FIBA EuroBasket.[12][13]
On July 6, 2011, Bourousis agreed to a two-year contract with theItalian A League clubOlimpia Milano.[14] In July 2013, Bourousis signed a contract with the Spanish League clubReal Madrid.[15][16] With Real Madrid, Bourousis won theSpanish Supercup title in 2013, and theSpanish King's Cup title in 2014. In the summer of 2014, Real Madrid picked up their team option to keep him in the club for one more season.[17]
In the 2014–15 season, Bourousis won theEuroLeague 2014–15 season championship, after his team, Real Madrid, defeated his former team,Olympiacos, by a score of 78–59 at the2015 EuroLeague Final Four.[18] Real Madrid also eventually finished the season winning the2014–15 Spanish League championship, after a 3–0 series score in the ACB Finals againstBarcelona. With that trophy, Bourousis' club won theTriple Crown.[19]
In September 2015, Bourousis signed a contract with theSpanish ACB teamSaski Baskonia.[20] On December 30, 2015, he was namedSpanish League Player of the Month, after being MVP of the week three times in the first half of the2015–16 ACB season.[21] He repeated his win again as the Spanish League's Player of the Month in January 2016, after averaging 18.5 points and 7 rebounds per game, including 24 points scored in his team's win against Real Madrid.[22] On May 23, 2016, he was named theSpanish League's MVP of the2015–16 season, after averaging 12.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 0.9 steals per game.[23]
On July 12, 2016, Bourousis signed a two-year contract with the Greek clubPanathinaikos Athens.[24] On July 4, 2017, Panathinaikos announced the termination of Bourousis' contract.[25] On July 10, 2017, Bourousis signed with theZhejiang Lions of theChinese Basketball Association (CBA).[26]
Bourousis spent the2020–21 season with the Greek Basketball League clubPeristeri Athens. He averaged 6.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game. On September 28, 2021, Bourousis signed withASK Karditsa of theGreek 2nd Division, where he played during the 2021–22 season.[27] After that season, he retired from playing proclub basketball. After he retired, theGiannis Bourousis Karditsa New Indoor Arena, which is located inKarditsa, Greece, was named after him, in his honor.
Bourousis was a member of theGreek Under-20 junior national team that won the gold medal at the2002 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship, inLithuania.
Bourousis was on the seniorGreek national team that won the gold medal at the2005 FIBA EuroBasket inSerbia, and he also played an instrumental role as Greece won the bronze medal at the2009 FIBA EuroBasket. He was also a member of the Greek national teams that finished in fourth place at the2007 FIBA EuroBasket, and in fifth place at the2008 Summer Olympics.
During an internationalfriendly game between the national teams ofGreece andSerbia, during the2010 Acropolis Tournament, Serbian playerNenad Krstić, decided tohit Bourousis on the head with a chair. "I thought he was a fan attacking me", Krstić declared the next day. Bourousis first pressed charges against Krstić and decided to sue, but he quickly changed his mind and dropped the charges and the lawsuit.
Bourousis was also a member of the Greek men's national teams that competed at the:2010 FIBA World Championship, the2011 FIBA EuroBasket, the2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the2013 FIBA EuroBasket, the2014 FIBA World Cup, the2015 FIBA EuroBasket, the2016 Turin FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the2017 FIBA EuroBasket, and the2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers.
After he retired from playing professional club basketball, Bourousis began working as a basketballexecutive. In 2021, he became theChairman of the Board of Directors of the Greek basketball clubASK Karditsa.
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | PIR | Performance index rating |
| Bold | Career high |
| † | Denotes seasons in which Bourousis won theEuroLeague |
| * | Led the league |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | PIR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002–03 | AEK Athens | 3 | 0 | 6.0 | .429 | .000 | 1.000 | 2.0 | .0 | .0 | .0 | 2.7 | .0 |
| 2003–04 | 12 | 0 | 7.9 | .500 | .000 | .429 | 2.2 | .3 | .3 | .3 | 1.8 | 2.2 | |
| 2004–05 | 18 | 0 | 11.0 | .510 | .167 | .500 | 3.7 | .3 | .4 | .4 | 3.4 | 4.6 | |
| 2005–06 | 11 | 8 | 23.3 | .438 | .333 | .833 | 7.2 | .3 | .5 | .5 | 8.5 | 9.5 | |
| 2006–07 | Olympiacos | 19 | 13 | 16.0 | .678 | .409 | .727 | 5.7 | .8 | 1.1 | .7 | 8.6 | 12.7 |
| 2007–08 | 21 | 10 | 19.4 | .500 | .432 | .769 | 5.2 | .5 | .5 | 1.2 | 5.8 | 9.0 | |
| 2008–09 | 22 | 7 | 21.3 | .591 | .259 | .625 | 7.4 | .7 | .7 | .5 | 12.5 | 16.1 | |
| 2009–10 | 17 | 2 | 16.4 | .531 | .471 | .765 | 4.8 | .7 | .9 | .6 | 8.8 | 10.9 | |
| 2010–11 | 18 | 11 | 17.5 | .530 | .367 | .678 | 6.6 | .7 | .6 | 1.3 | 10.7 | 14.2 | |
| 2011–12 | Milano | 15 | 14 | 22.4 | .466 | .176 | .688 | 6.4 | .5 | .7 | .7 | 9.0 | 10.6 |
| 2012–13 | 9 | 8 | 24.1 | .573 | .385 | .745 | 8.3 | 1.1 | .7 | .7 | 14.0 | 18.9 | |
| 2013–14 | Real Madrid | 29 | 29 | 21.0 | .524 | .353 | .817 | 5.9 | .9 | .4 | .8 | 8.3 | 12.1 |
| 2014–15† | 28 | 10 | 11.8 | .505 | .200 | .727 | 3.3 | .9 | .5 | .4 | 5.0 | 6.8 | |
| 2015–16 | Baskonia | 29 | 0 | 25.1 | .502 | .383 | .811 | 8.7* | 2.2 | .8 | .8 | 14.5 | 21.1 |
| 2016–17 | Panathinaikos | 33 | 7 | 18.2 | .399 | .291 | .788 | 4.8 | 1.0 | .5 | .5 | 7.8 | 10.1 |
| Career | 284 | 119 | 18.2 | .513 | .345 | .744 | 5.6 | .9 | .6 | .7 | 8.5 | 11.5 | |
| Season | Team | League | GP | MPG | 2P% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | AEK Athens | GBL | 3 | 1.7 | .667 | -- | .667 | 1.3 | .0 | .0 | .0 | 2.0 |
| 2002–03 | 8 | 4.3 | .429 | -- | -- | 1.1 | .1 | .0 | .0 | .8 | ||
| 2003–04 | 20 | 12.1 | .714 | -- | .682 | 4.2 | .2 | .5 | .1 | 5.3 | ||
| 2004–05 | 24 | 11.3 | .580 | .333 | .649 | 3.9 | .4 | .2 | .3 | 4.7 | ||
| 2005–06 | 25 | 25.5 | .558 | .321 | .765 | 8.4 | .6 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 10.5 | ||
| FC Barcelona | ACB | 3 | 3.7 | .333 | -- | -- | 1.0 | .3 | .3 | .0 | .7 | |
| 2006–07 | Olympiacos | GBL | 24 | 18.3 | .610 | .357 | .775 | 7.2 | .8 | .7 | 1.1 | 9.8 |
| 2007–08 | 25 | 19.9 | .660 | .405 | .745 | 7.5 | 1.2 | .6 | 1.2 | 9.0 | ||
| 2008–09 | 32 | 20.9 | .617 | .439 | .742 | 7.5 | .9 | .7 | .9 | 11.9 | ||
| 2009–10 | 26 | 17.9 | .560 | .200 | .743 | 5.3 | 1.1 | .8 | .7 | 9.7 | ||
| 2010–11 | 30 | 20.6 | .636 | .333 | .817 | 6.6 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 11.7 | ||
| 2011–12 | Milano | LBA | 43 | 19.0 | .622 | .347 | .755 | 5.8 | 1.0 | .5 | .7 | 11.6 |
| 2012–13 | 34 | 20.5 | .631 | .322 | .769 | 6.8 | 1.1 | .7 | .6 | 11.5 | ||
| 2013–14 | Real Madrid | ACB | 40 | 18.7 | .591 | .236 | .831 | 4.6 | .7 | .7 | .5 | 6.9 |
| 2014–15 | 31 | 14.6 | .544 | .313 | .733 | 3.7 | .9 | .4 | .4 | 5.2 | ||
| 2015–16 | Baskonia | ACB | 32 | 22.8 | .572 | .370 | .881 | 7.1 | 2.2 | .9 | .2 | 12.9 |
| 2016–17 | Panathinaikos | GBL | 35 | 19.3 | .592 | .173 | .741 | 5.6 | 1.6 | .6 | .6 | 10.7 |
Gold
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