Vassilis Spanoulis

Vassilis Spanoulis (Greek: Βασίλης Σπανούλης) (born August 7, 1982) is a Greek professional basketball player who plays for Olympiacos Piraeus of the Greek Basket League and Euroleague. A 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall point guard, he is nicknamed Kill Bill, V-Span, and MVP ("Most Vassilis Player").

Spanoulis first played for Gymnastikos S. Larissa, and enjoyed a highly successful career start, winning the Greek Basket League's Best Young Player award in 2002. His skill-set earned him a transfer to Athens and Maroussi. Following an impressive 2004–05 season, during which he helped to lead Maroussi to the Greek Basket League Finals, and the Eurocup quarterfinals, he moved to Panathinaikos, where he became one of European basketball's major stars.

In the Euroleague 2005–06 season, Spanoulis entered the Euroleague in impressive fashion, earning his first All-Euroleague Team selection as a rookie in the competition. After a stint in the NBA, with the Houston Rockets, during the 2006–07 season, he returned to Panathinaikos and helped to lead them to a Euroleague title in 2008-09, being voted as a member of the All-Euroleague Second Team, and the Euroleague Final Four MVP. His transfer to Olympiacos, in the summer of 2010, marked a new step in Spanoulis' career. Within a young and rebuilding Olympiacos team that was not expected to certainly make it past the regular season, Spanoulis helped to lead a Euroleague title run in the 2011-12 season. His unexpected championship triumph gained him a fourth All-Euroleague selection, and a second Euroleague Final Four MVP award.

Spanoulis played an instrumental role on the Greek national team's EuroBasket 2005 gold medal team. Most importantly, he was one of the main stars of Greece's 2006 FIBA World Championship silver medal team, scoring 22 points in the victory over Team USA in the tournament's semifinals. It was however, Greece's bronze medal at the EuroBasket 2009, that emphasized Spanoulis' leadership within an injury-plagued Greek national team, earning an All-EuroBasket Team honor in the process.