DALLAS — Olympiacos wants John Poulakidas. Eurohoops reported Thursday that the reigning EuroLeague champion has made the Dallas Mavericks guard a transfer target. Panathinaikos AKTOR could enter the race behind it. Poulakidas plans to stay in the NBA at least one more season before he considers Europe.
Three Olympiacos officials went to Las Vegas in July. Coach Georgios Bartzokas, general manager Nikos Lepeniotis, and sports director Christos Bafes watched Poulakidas play at NBA Summer League and met with him there. Bartzokas has won the EuroLeague twice with the club, in 2013 and again this year.
All four of Poulakidas’ grandparents are Greek. He is pursuing a Greek passport. The document would count him as a domestic player for a Greek club and make him eligible for the senior national team.
Poulakidas said his parents have to get their own paperwork settled before his can go through.
“We’ve been meeting with the federation. We met with the embassy in Chicago. And my parents are slowly getting theirs situated. Until now, all I can do is wait for them to get theirs handled, so it will be easier for me,” Poulakidas said.
“We’re trying to speed up the process, obviously,” Poulakidas continued. “My focus has been here, on the present moment, trying to let the agent, my family, handle that side of things, but definitely trying to speed up that process because I would love to play for the Greek national team as soon as possible.”
He spoke on July 16 in Las Vegas, a few hours after he shot 6-of-14 for 19 points against the Oklahoma City Thunder and added 3 rebounds and 3 assists in 27 minutes of a 97-87 win. Three days later he closed the tournament with 18 points against the New York Knicks.
Poulakidas Is In The Second Year Of A Two-Way Deal
Dallas signed him on March 1. Jake Fischer reported the agreement that day. The team announced it two days later.
Poulakidas had spent the season’s first four months with the San Diego Clippers. In 24 G League games, he made 14 starts and shot 47.3% from 3-point range on 96-of-203. That was the seventh-best mark among qualified players in the league.
The contract runs two years, which puts Poulakidas in the second season of it. Tobi Lawal and Jett Howard hold the other two two-way spots. Lawal went 48th overall in June. Dallas has 16 players on standard deals. Teams can bring 21 to camp and have to be down to 18 by opening night, with no more than 15 on standard contracts.
What Poulakidas Did In 13 Games For Dallas
Poulakidas debuted March 3 at the Charlotte Hornets and did not score. His first NBA points came 12 days later against the Cleveland Cavaliers, 10 of them, with 3 rebounds and a steal in 15 minutes of a win at Rocket Arena.
Poulakidas got the game ball afterward and said he is trying to stay in the league as long as he can.
“Seeing that first three go down felt great. Obviously, I missed my first two, and I had, honestly, just been itching since the first minute I played against Charlotte to knock that first one down for us, and to see one fall, let alone two, was great,” Poulakidas explained.
“It’s just continuing to stay confident and shoot the next one,” Poulakidas added. “I take pride in being an efficient shooter. And, so if I miss my first two, I know one of them is going to drop pretty soon.”
By the end of the year, Poulakidas had played 13 games. He averaged 8.8 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in 19.5 minutes and shot 42.9% from the field. From 3-point range, he went 31-of-77, or 40.3%.
On April 8 in Phoenix, he scored 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting with five 3-pointers. Poulakidas said he knew during his pregame routine that the minutes were coming.
“My shooting has got me here. My defense is going to keep me here,” Poulakidas said.
Then-Mavericks coach Jason Kidd left him on the floor late that night to see how he would handle it.
“John was good. John competed on both ends, offensively and defensively,” Kidd said. “I thought the group was trying to find him, and then to have him in the game late just to see how he would handle it, he made a great force.”
Four days after Phoenix, in the season finale, Poulakidas scored a career-high 28 points on 9-of-18 shooting and 8-of-16 from deep. He added 6 rebounds and 4 assists in 36 minutes. Dallas beat the Chicago Bulls 149-128.
At Yale, Poulakidas started 90 consecutive games from his sophomore year through his senior year. He shot 40.2% from 3-point range across his college career on 243-of-604. As a senior, he led the Ivy League in scoring at 19.4 points and added 3.3 rebounds in 27 games. The conference named him First Team All-Ivy and tournament MVP in 2025.
Four International Players Arrived Around Him This Summer
July 19 brought Zaccharie Risacher from the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team trade. Risacher was the first overall pick in 2024. He averaged 9.6 points and 3.8 rebounds in 67 games for Atlanta last season.
A six-team deal earlier that month sent Santi Aldama to Dallas from the Memphis Grizzlies, along with the draft rights to Tarik Biberović. Biberović signed a two-year, $6 million deal on July 10 after eight seasons in Turkey. Aldama is recovering from right knee surgery and will not play for Spain in World Cup qualifying this month.
Dallas moved up five spots in June to take Sergio de Larrea 25th overall.
Mavericks coach Dusty May opens camp Sept. 22. Dallas is one of six teams starting early because of preseason games outside North America. The regular season starts Oct. 21 at the Houston Rockets. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT.
