Family Feud Threatens Panathinaikos Basketball

The President of Greek basketball power Panathinaikos quit in disgust on Dec. 7 after he accused his family, who had put him in the position, of lying about the club’s tattered finances that he said led the team’s long-time coach, Zeljko Obradovic to quit because he wasn’t paid.
“I am 38 years old, I have got the strength to fight, but I cannot tolerate betrayal from my own blood,” Dimitris Giannakopoulos said, adding that he is offering the club for free if someone wants to take over its financial problems.
That came as one of the team’s former stars, Mike Batiste, an American player who left the club this year to join the Turkish team Fenerbahce, was arrested on charges of failing to pay 200,000 euros ($259,000) in back taxes.
Dimitris Giannakopoulos said he was stepping down as the team’s president after accusing his uncle, Thanassis, of betrayal in a dramatic press conference that came after Batiste’s arrest. Giannakopoulos arranged to pay Batiste’s tax arrears.
“I have been betrayed by my own blood,” a tearful Giannakopoulos said after he told reporters that when he took over the basketball club from his father Pavlos that his uncle lied about the finances of the six-time European champion.
He also leveled the charge that Obradovic, who had coached the team for 13 years, was owed an undisclosed amount of money and quit because he hadn’t been paid.
“When in the summer I asked Thanassis Giannakopoulos and his associates for details of the club’s finances, I was given fake data. Today I have taken things into my own hands and I have seen the real picture.
“I have not got the financial capacity to plug the holes that the Thanassis Giannakopoulos administration has left,” Dimitris stressed, saying that “unfortunately I cannot go on at Panathinaikos.”
Batiste, 35, is reportedly a good friend with Dimitris Giannakopoulos, who intended to honor him when the former Arizona State star returned to Athens with his Turkish club to face his old team. Instead, Batiste was arrested on Dec. 6 when the team landed at the international airport in Athens and spent the night at the police station there. He was released later and joined the Turkish team ahead of its game against Panathinaikos the night of Dec. 7.