He arrived… midseason last year, to prove to be a basic ingredient in Panathinaikos’ success as it would conquer the double for the 2012-13 competitive season. James Gist came to stay and proved so by shaking hands on an agreement with the Panathinaikos BC President, Dimitris Giannakopoulos. He will remain in the green family for yet another two years.
Gist was not with the team from the beginning of last season. He was announced by Panathinaikos BC on December 21, leaving Spain and Unicaja Malaga to reach the “Eleftherios Venizelos” the next day. From the airport he went straight to the OAKA arena, attended the clash versus KAOD for the Greek Cup and… got down to business. Already from his very first games he helped the team out with his energy and his competitiveness, reaching to be one of the protagonists in conquering the double. Wearing the Panathinaikos jersey this season in the Basket League OPAP through 23 games he tallied 188 points (8.2 pg) behind 53/96 twos, 17/49 threes, 31/45 free throws, he had 120 rebounds (90-30), 19 assists, 12 blocks and 20 steals. For Euroleague he competed in 28 games with Unicaja Malaga and Panathinaikos. He had through 19 games 149 points (7.8 pg) behind 40/79 twos, 17/49 threes, 18/32 free throws, 83 (55-28) rebounds, 14 assists, 12 steals and 15 blocked shots.
Who Gist is
James Gist (2,07m) was born in Adana , Turkey on October 26, 1986. He played for the team of his High School (Our Lady of Good Counsel High School) and then attended Maryland College. He was drafted at number 57 for the San Antonio Spurts in 2008, but immediately committed the trip to Europe. He competed for Angelico Biella (2008-09) and then for Lokomotiv Kuban (2009-10), Partizan Belgrade (2010-11), Fenerbahce Ulker (2011-12) while during the summer he came to an agreement with Unicaja Malaga. He was named Serbian Cup MVP (2011), while playing for Partizan he conquered both the Serbian Cup and League, but also the Adriatic League title. His collection was embellished this season, wearing the Panathinaikos jersey, conquering the Greek League and the Greek Cup.
