Sofoklis Schortsanitis

Greek basketball player (born 1985)

Sofoklis Schortsanitis (Greek: Σοφοκλής Σχορτσανίτης; born 22 June 1985) is a Greek former professional basketball player and Olympian. An All EuroLeague First Team selection in 2011, Schortsanitis won the EuroLeague title in 2014 with Maccabi Tel Aviv, and reached the EuroLeague Final in 2010 and 2011, while playing for Olympiacos and Maccabi, respectively. He was a member of the Greece men's national basketball team that captured silver medal honours in the 2006 FIBA World Championship and a bronze medal in the EuroBasket 2009. He is nicknamed "Big Sofo" or "Baby Shaq".

Born in his native port town of Tiko, Cameroon, Schortsanitis moved to his father's native country of Greece with his mother when he was very young. He has a younger brother called Alexandros. Schortsanitis first took up basketball in his home city of Kavala. It was there where his parents advised him to play basketball, and Schortsanitis at first did not like the sport. But eventually the game grew on him, he was always practicing. Eventually, a scout/coach discovered his talent, and pushed him into the sport.

Schortsanitis began playing professional basketball with Iraklis in the 2000–01 Greek League season. Starting in the 2002–03 Greek League season when he was 17, he averaged 11.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per league game. His performance record would be a failure in Cantù's 2003–04 season, in the Italian League; he lacked maturity and experience. He would return to Greece to play in the 2004–05 season with the Greek club Aris.

In the 2005–06 season, Schortsanitis was transferred to Olympiacos. He became a vital member of the team that reached the EuroLeague quarterfinals, and his performances impressed Panagiotis Giannakis, who picked him for the Greece men's national basketball team at the end of the season. During the following two years, Schortsanitis failed to achieve consistency, and his chronic weight issues reemerged, to the point that he spent almost the entire 2007–08 season dealing with them. He came back in shape for the 2008–09 season, and helped Olympiacos reach the EuroLeague Final Four. In the 2009–10 season, he made another step towards consistency, displaying his most mature performances with Olympiacos, on the club's way to the EuroLeague Final, which they lost to Juan Carlos Navarro's and Ricky Rubio's Barcelona, 86–68.

On 5 August 2010, Schortsanitis signed a two year deal with the then five time EuroLeague champions, Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Premier League. His presence alongside Jeremy Pargo, Chuck Eidson, and Doron Perkins helped the team reach the 2011 EuroLeague Final, where they eventually lost to Dimitris Diamantidis' Panathinaikos, by a score of 78–70. Schortsanitis averaged 12 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1 assist per game throughout the EuroLeague 2010–11 season, earning an All EuroLeague First Team selection. In the 2011–12 season, Schortsanitis fought a chronic knee injury, which affected his performance during the season, and left him unable to participate with the national team that summer. Nevertheless, he helped Maccabi reach the EuroLeague quarterfinals, where they were topped by Panathinaikos, losing the series, 3–2.

On 4 July 2012, Schortsanitis signed a three year contract with the Greek club Panathinaikos, worth €1.5 million euros net income. He reportedly turned down significantly more lucrative offers from Baskonia Vitoria and Galatasaray, among others, to return to Greece and fulfill his desire to play for Panathinaikos. In July 2013, Panathinaikos announced that Schortsanitis would not continue play for the club.

On 10 July 2013, Schortsanitis returned to Maccabi after one season in Panathinaikos, and signed a three year contract with the defending Israeli Premier League champions. In his comeback season with Maccabi, the club won the finals of that season's EuroLeague, which was the first EuroLeague championship won in Schortsanitis' career. Over 29 games played in the EuroLeague that season, he averaged 9.6 points and 2.6 rebounds per game, in 14.2 minutes per game of playing time.

On 2 August 2015, Schortsanitis signed a one year contract with the Serbian club Crvena zvezda. On 28 October 2015, he parted ways with Zvezda. In 6 games played with the club in the ABA League's 2015–16 season, he averaged 4.8 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.

On 2 November 2015, Schortsanitis signed with the Greek club PAOK, for the rest of the season. With PAOK, he averaged 13.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game, in the European wide 2nd tier level EuroCup's 2015–16 season.

In December 2016, Schortsanitis joined the Greek club Apollon Patras. However, on 28 December, he suffered a serious injury, as he ruptured his Achilles tendon, during one of the team's practices. The injury caused him to then miss the entire remainder of the Greek Basket League 2016–17 season, and he was thus not able to play in any games with Apollon.

On 18 October 2017, Schortsanitis returned to action, and joined Aries Trikala of the Greek Basket League, for the 2017–18 season. On 6 January 2018, he made his debut in a 76–86 loss to Rethymno Cretan Kings, recording 6 points and one rebound, off the bench.

On 24 July 2019, Schortsanitis signed with Ionikos Nikaias for the Greek Basket League 2019–20 season.

Schortsanitis drew interest from the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers in the summer of 2006, after having been originally selected in the 2nd round (34th overall) of the 2003 NBA draft; however, because he was still under contract with Olympiacos at the time, he did not make a move to the NBA. In 2010, his contract with Olympiacos expired, and he elected to participate in the NBA Summer League with the Clippers, with an eye towards joining the team; this time, however, the Clippers were unimpressed, and he failed to secure a contract with the team. On 30 July 2012, the Los Angeles Clippers traded the draft rights of Schortsanitis to the Atlanta Hawks in a sign and trade deal for Willie Green. On 15 July 2014, his draft rights were traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Thabo Sefolosha, the rights to Georgios Printezis, and cash considerations.

On 10 December 2020, Schortsanitis announced his retirement from playing pro club basketball. Thus, making him one of the eleven players from the 2003 NBA draft Class to have never played in the NBA.

Play at friendly games and qualifiers were Schortsanitis' introduction to being on the senior Greek national team, before making his first appearance at a major FIBA competition at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, which was held in Japan. He helped Greece to win the silver medal, after they defeated Team USA, by a score of 101–95, in the semifinals. Schortsanitis scored 14 points, in 17 minutes in the game. He also played with Greece at the 2008 Summer Olympics. At the 2009 EuroBasket, which was held in Poland, Schortsanitis' performance was decisive in Greece winning the tournament's bronze medal game against Slovenia, as he scored 23 points on a 78% field goal shooting percentage, while grabbing six rebounds, blocking two shots, and managing to draw 12 fouls. He also played at the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

Schortsanitis is a classic, "old school" style center that plays in the low post on offence, and that defends the rim and painted lane area of the court on defense. Schortsanitis was measured at the 2003 NBA pre draft camp at a height of 6 feet (2 m) tall barefoot, 6 feet (2 m) tall with shoes on, and with a 7 feet (2 m) wingspan. His official playing weight was listed as 380 pounds (172 kg).