Panathinaikos is BC OPAP has signed Georgios Kalaitzakis (23, 2.04 meters) for the next 2 years.
Georgios Kalaitzakis is a basketball player, born on January 2, 1999 in Heraklion, Creta. He is a guard/forward who last played for Oklahoma City Thunder.
After playing with the junior youth clubs of Aris, he began his professional career in 2016, with Panathinaikos.
In March 2018, Kalaitzakis announced his intention to declare for the 2018 NBA draft. He later withdrew from the draft before the draft's withdrawal deadline.
On August 28, 2019, he signed with Nevezis Kedainiai of the Lithuanian Basketball League, on a loan deal from Panathinaikos. In 23 games played in the Lithuanian League's 2019–20 season, he averaged 12.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.0 steals per game, in 28.7 minutes per game.
In August 2020, he re-signed with Panathinaikos, through the end of the 2021–22 season.
With Panathinaikos, he won the Greek Cup title in 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021 also the Greek League championship, in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021.
Kalaitzakis was selected by the NBA's Indiana Pacers, with the 60th overall pick of the 2021 NBA draft. His draft rights were then traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, along with the draft rights of the 54th pick, Sandro Mamukelashvili, and two second round draft picks, for Isaiah Todd. On August 11, 2021, the Milwaukee Bucks announced that they had signed with Kalaitzakis.
On December 30, 2021, Kalaitzakis was claimed off waivers by the Oklahoma City Blue of the NBA G League where he played in 31 regular season games and averaged 10.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 19.6 minutes per game. On April 5, 2022, he signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the rest of the season. Kalaitzakis played four games for the Thunder, averaging 41.5 minutes and 17.5 points per game.
Kalaitzakis has been a member of the junior national teams of Greece. With Greece's junior national teams, he played at the 2015 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship, the 2016 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, and the 2017 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship. He also played at the 2018 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship, and the 2019 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship, which he led in scoring, with an average of 19.7 points per game.
"I am very happy to have returned to Panathinaikos. I don't want to say many words. I will give 100% of my strength to help the team achieve its goals", Kalaitzakis said. "It was a lifelong dream for me and Panagiotis to play together one day at Panathinaikos. We are looking forward to starting to work wearing the green jersey, giving our best every day."
