Calathes For Three Years

Nick Calathes will play for Panathinaikos for the next three years.

Nick Calathes was born in Casselberry, Florida on February 7, 1989. He last played for the Memphis Grizzlies. He attended Lake Howell High School in Winter Park, Florida, and graduated as the leading high school basketball scorer in Seminole County history. At Lake Howell, Calathes twice won the Florida Mr. Basketball award, placing him on a long list of NBA players who have won that award, including Vince Carter, Amar'e Stoudemire, Brandon Knight and Austin Rivers.

Calathes accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida, where he played for Florida Gators men's basketball team from 2007 to 2009. He was considered one of the top play-making guards in college basketball.

He was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection in 2009, and he was the only player in the nation to average better than 15.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game. Calathes broke the Florida school records for assists and assists per game in each of his first two years, totaling 221 as a freshman (6.1 assists per game), and 231 (6.4 assists per game) as a sophomore. He ranked third in Florida school history in career assists after just two years. He was the SEC Newcomer of the Year and the SEC co-Freshman of the Year in 2008, as he led Florida in scoring and assists.

On May 23, 2009, Calathes announced that he would bypass the NBA to play in the Greek Basket League. He agreed to terms with Panathinaikos. Despite his commitment to play in Greece, he was still selected in the second round of the 2009 NBA draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was then traded to the Dallas Mavericks for a 2010 second-round draft pick and cash.

In his first year with Panathinaikos, he won the Greek League championship, averaging 5.4 points, 2.0 assists, and 2.2 rebounds in 15 minutes per game.

On 2011 he won his first Euroleague title. Also he won his second Greek League championship with Panathinaikos.

In the summer of 2012, Calathes signed a two-year contract with the Russian VTB United League team Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar and he won the 2nd-tier competition, the Eurocup, in 2013.

On July 22, 2013, the Dallas Mavericks traded Calathes' draft rights to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for a 2016 second-round pick. On August 20, 2013, Calathes officially signed with the Grizzlies.

Calathes made his debut with the Greek junior national team at the 2008 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship, where he averaged 11.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 22 minutes per game. With the Under-20 Greek junior national basketball team, he played in 10 games in total, scoring 115 points, averaging 11.5 points per game.

In 2009, Calathes debuted with the senior Greek national basketball team, and with them he won the bronze medal at the FIBA EuroBasket 2009. The next summer, at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, Greece failed to win a medal. He also played at the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

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