Nikolaos "Nikos"Zisis (alternate spelling:Zissis;Greek:Νικόλαος "Νίκος" Ζήσης; born August 16, 1983) is a Greekbasketball executive and former professional basketball player. During his proclub playing career, at a height of 1.97 m (6'53⁄4") tall,[1][2] he played at both thepoint guard andshooting guard positions. He was inducted into theGreek Basketball League Hall of Fame in 2022.[3] He is currently thegeneral manager of the seniorGreek men's national basketball team and of the pro clubAris Thessaloniki of theGBL and theEuroCup.
During his senior men's club playing career, Zisis won the2008 EuroLeague championship, while he was a member of the Russian clubCSKA Moscow. Zisis also won nine national league championships, in various European domestic leagues. He won aGreek League title, fourItalian League titles, twoRussian League titles, and twoGerman League titles.
In addition to that, he also won nine European national domestic cup titles. He won twoGreek Cups, fourItalian Cups, oneRussian Cup, and twoGerman Cups. He also won five European national domestic super cup titles. As he won fourItalian Supercups and oneGerman Supercup. Two of his club teams,HAN Thessaloniki andBrose Bamberg, retired his team jerseys.
As a member of the senior Greek national basketball team, Zisis won the gold medal at the2005 FIBA EuroBasket, the silver medal at the2006 FIBA World Cup, and the bronze medal at the2009 FIBA EuroBasket.
Zisis started his basketball playing career in 1996, playing with the junior teams ofHAN Thessaloniki (English: YMCA Thessaloniki). He was with the club until 2000. The club would later go on toretire his jersey in 2021.Nikos' high school team was Mandoulides Schools. In 1999 and 2000, Zisis won the Panhellenic Schools Basketball Championship, which is the Greek national high school basketball championship. In 1999, inJerusalem, he also won theInternational School Sport Federation (ISF)'s Under-18 age categoryWorld Schools Basketball Championship.[4]
At the age of 17, Zisis moved toAthens and to theGreek League teamAEK, where he began hisprofessional basketball career. With AEK, he won theGreek Cup in 2001 and also theGreek League championship in 2002. He also won theGreek League Best Young Player award in 2002.
After playing with the Greek clubAEK Athens, Zisis moved toTreviso,Italy, and played on theItalian League teamBenetton Treviso. With Treviso, he won theItalian Super Cup and theItalian League championship in the year 2006, and also theItalian Cup in the year 2007. He then left Italy and moved toMoscow,Russia.
On June 13, 2007, Zisis signed a 3-year contract worth€5 million eurosnet income with the Russian teamCSKA Moscow.[5][6] With CSKA, Zisis won theEuroLeague championship at the2008 EuroLeague Final Four. He also played in the2009 EuroLeague Final with CSKA. While he was a member of CSKA, he also won twoRussian League championships (2008, 2009).
In 2009, Zisis leftCSKA Moscow, and signed a 2-year contract worth€1.6 million eurosnet income with the Italian League clubMontepaschi Siena.[7] In 2010, he signed a 2-year extension with Montepaschi.[8] With Siena, he won threeItalian League championships (2010, 2011, 2012), threeItalian Cups winner (2010, 2011, 2012), and threeItalian Cup Supercups (2010, 2011, 2012).
In 2012, Zisis signed a 2-year contract, with the second year being an optional year, with theSpanish League clubBilbao.[9]
After spending a season with the Spanish clubBilbao Basket, Zisis moved to the RussianVTB United League clubUNICS Kazan, in July 2013.[10] With UNICS, he played in the2014 Eurocup Finals. With UNICS, he also won the2014 edition of theRussian Cup.
On December 29, 2014, theTurkish Super League clubFenerbahçe Ülker acquired Zisis.[11] With Zisis playing an average of 23.5 minutes per game with Fenerbahçe in the2014–15 EuroLeague season, the team advanced to the2015 EuroLeague Final Four. It was the first time in the team's history that they made it to theEuroLeague Final Four.[12] However, on May 15, 2015, they lost in the EuroLeague semifinals to the Spanish clubReal Madrid, by a score of 96–87.[13]
On July 16, 2015, Zisis signed a two-year contract with the GermanBasketball Bundesliga (BBL) clubBrose Bamberg.[14] In 2017, he extended his contract with Brose, through the year 2019.[15] With Bamberg, he won twoGerman BBL League championships (2016,2017), twoGerman Cups (2017,2019), and theGerman Supercup (2015). In the2019 German Cup Final, Zisis hit the game-winner, with 2.4 seconds left in the game, to give Bamberg an 83–82 win overAlba Berlin.[16] On September 7, 2019, Bambergretired Zisis' number 6 jersey.[17]
On July 15, 2019, Zisis signed a two-year deal with the SpanishLiga ACB clubJoventut Badalona.[18]
In January 2020, Zisis left the Spanish clubJoventut Badalona, and signed with his former clubAEK Athens, of theFIBA Champions League.[19][20][21] With AEK, Zisis won the2020 edition of theGreek Cup, in which he was also named theGreek Cup MVP. Zisis announced his retirement from playing professional club basketball in June 2021.[22][23]
WithGreece's under-16 junior national team, Zisis won the silver medal at the1999 FIBA Under-16 European Championship, and he also led the tournament in scoring. Zisis also won the silver medal withGreece's under-18 junior national team, at the2000 Albert Schweitzer Under-18 World Tournament. He also won the bronze medal at the2000 FIBA Under-18 European Championship. In addition, Zisis won the gold medal with theGreek under-20 junior national team at the2002 FIBA Under-20 European Championship, where he was also namedthe tournament's MVP.
Zisis played withGreece's men's under-26 national selection at the2001 Tunis Mediterranean Games. At the Mediterranean Games, he helped Greece win the silver medal at the tournament. As a member of theGreek men's national basketball team, Zisis won the gold medal at the2005 FIBA EuroBasket, which was held inSerbia and Montenegro. He was Greece's leading scorer during the tournament, averaging 10.6 points per game. At the end of the semifinal game against theFrench national basketball team, Zisis drove the length of the court, drove into the middle of the floor, drew a double team, and then dished the ball out toDimitris Diamantidis, who hit a game-winning 3 pointer. After his great performance at the EuroBasket in 2005, Zisis was named theFIBA Europe Young Player of the Year.[24]
The next year, at the2006 FIBA World Championship, which was held inJapan, Zisis hit a game winning 3-point shot at the end of the game against theAustralian national basketball team, to give Greece a 72–69 victory. However, in the next game in the tournament, he was hit on the cheekbone and eye socket bone by the elbow of theBrazilian national basketball team'sAnderson Varejão. Zisis suffered a severe facial injury that forced him to sit out for the remaining entirety of the 2006 World Championship, as the injury required surgery. Even though Greece lost Zisis, who was their leading scorer the year before at the2005 EuroBasket, they were still able to win the silver medal (including an improbable upset victory overTeam USA in the semifinals) during the World Championship tournament.
At the2007 FIBA EuroBasket, Zisis was one of the two key Greek players, along withTheo Papaloukas, that led Greece's national team to the biggest comeback in the history of theEuroBasket, against theSlovenian national basketball team. The comeback was called "the miracle". Greece finished the tournament in 4th place.
Zisis also competed with Greece at the2004 Summer Olympics, where Greece finished in 5th place in the world, and at the2008 Summer Olympics, where Greece also finished in 5th place in the world. He also played at the following tournaments: the2009 FIBA EuroBasket, where he won a bronze medal, the2010 FIBA World Championship, the2011 FIBA EuroBasket, the2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the2013 FIBA EuroBasket, the2014 FIBA World Cup, and the2015 FIBA EuroBasket.[25]
After the conclusion of the 2015 EuroBasket tournament, Zisis retired from the senior Greek national team.[26][27] Zisis finished hisnational team career with Greece, having won a total of ten medals at all levels, eight of which came inFIBA competitions. In 2019, theHellenic Basketball Federation honored Zisis, in recognition of his contributions to the senior Greece men's national basketball team, with which he had 189caps (games played).[28]
In October 2021, Zisis began a career working as a basketball executive, when he became thegeneral manager of the seniorGreek men's national basketball team.[29][30] Zisis became the general manager ofAris Thessaloniki, of theGreek Basketball League and the European-wide secondary level competition, theEuroCup, in 2025.[31]
At 1.97 m (6 ft 53⁄4 in) tall, Zisis played mainly at thepoint guard andshooting guard positions, while also playing sometimes at thesmall forward position. Over his playing career, his primary position with his proclub teams was point guard, while his primary position with the seniorGreek men's national basketball team was shooting guard. During his playing career, Zisis was known as "The Lord of the Rings", because he is the Greek player with the most combined medals won at the cadet, junior, young men's, and senior men's European and worldFIBA tournaments.[32]
Zisis' older brother Danis, died in a car accident in 2003. Zisis is very close friends with fellow formerGreek men's national basketball team playersVassilis Spanoulis,Ioannis Bourousis, andPanos Vasilopoulos. He is also good friends with formerItalian national basketball team playerAndrea Bargnani andGerman national basketball team playerDaniel Theis. Hemarried Fani Skoufi in 2010, with Vassilis Spanoulis being hisbest man.[33] His nickname is "The Lord of the Rings."[34]
| 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 season in which Zisis won theEuroLeague |
| * | Led the league |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | PIR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000–01 | AEK Athens | 2 | 2 | 17.0 | .400 | .000 | .000 | 1.5 | .0 | .0 | — | 2.0 | -2.5 |
| 2001–02 | 19 | 2 | 14.2 | .528 | .450 | .588 | .9 | 1.1 | .4 | — | 4.5 | 2.7 | |
| 2002–03 | 14 | 9 | 23.2 | .378 | .143 | .577 | 3.0 | 1.1 | .7 | — | 5.7 | 3.6 | |
| 2003–04 | 14 | 13 | 26.3 | .455 | .318 | .633 | 2.6 | 2.1 | .8 | — | 8.6 | 6.9 | |
| 2004–05 | 20 | 20 | 30.5 | .558 | .317 | .780 | 3.1 | 4.4 | .8 | — | 11.6 | 13.7 | |
| 2005–06 | Treviso | 7 | 7 | 33.5 | .448 | .263 | .800 | 2.7 | 4.9 | 1.0 | — | 8.1 | 10.0 |
| 2006–07 | 20 | 20 | 33.1 | .470 | .345 | .828 | 2.5 | 4.3 | 1.2 | .1 | 11.0 | 12.3 | |
| 2007–08† | CSKA Moscow | 25* | 2 | 15.4 | .544 | .167 | .833 | 1.8 | 1.4 | .4 | .0 | 4.3 | 4.1 |
| 2008–09 | 21 | 2 | 16.2 | .571 | .350 | .900 | 1.3 | 1.7 | .2 | — | 5.3 | 5.6 | |
| 2009–10 | Mens Sana | 16 | 1 | 16.0 | .481 | .167 | .806 | 1.3 | 1.7 | .5 | — | 5.4 | 4.6 |
| 2010–11 | 22 | 10 | 21.5 | .388 | .257 | .848 | 1.9 | 2.6 | .9 | — | 6.0 | 6.8 | |
| 2011–12 | 20 | 4 | 19.5 | .414 | .259 | .800 | 1.7 | 2.6 | .3 | — | 4.5 | 5.4 | |
| 2014–15 | UNICS | 10 | 7 | 19.5 | .405 | .421 | .889 | 2.8 | 3.6 | .3 | — | 7.0 | 8.6 |
| 2014–15 | Fenerbahçe | 19 | 13 | 19.5 | .450 | .333 | .600 | 2.0 | 3.6 | .4 | .1 | 5.4 | 5.2 |
| 2015–16 | Bamberg | 24 | 20 | 26.0 | .500 | .388 | .800 | 2.7 | 3.6 | .4 | — | 10.1 | 11.8 |
| 2016–17 | 30 | 24 | 24.0 | .436 | .288 | .913 | 2.0 | 4.5 | .5 | — | 7.7 | 9.8 | |
| 2017–18 | 27 | 20 | 22.3 | .444 | .410 | .818 | 2.1 | 2.8 | .5 | — | 6.3 | 6.9 | |
| Career | 310 | 176 | 22.1 | .418 | .312 | .790 | 2.1 | 2.9 | .6 | .0 | 6.9 | 7.4 | |
Silver Silver
Bronze
Gold Silver Gold Gold Silver Bronze Bronze
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