Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens has confirmed it has parted methods with head coach Ergin Ataman, the membership introduced on Monday, ending a short however trophy-filled tenure that included home silverware and a EuroLeague Remaining 4 look. The choice comes simply days after the membership fell to Olympiacos within the Greek League finals.
The departure was confirmed in a club-produced video that includes Ataman alongside president Dimitris Giannakopoulos, marking a coordinated and public conclusion to a partnership that started in 2023. The timing follows a risky finish to the season, with Panathinaikos shedding the home championship collection to its archrival after already exiting the EuroLeague title chase.
Ataman arrived in Athens in 2023 after a extremely adorned run with Anadolu Efes, the place he received back-to-back EuroLeague titles in 2021 and 2022. His transfer to Panathinaikos instantly delivered outcomes, together with the 2024 EuroLeague and Greek League championships and consecutive Greek Cup victories in 2025 and 2026.
Throughout his broader profession, Ataman established himself as one in every of European basketball’s most achieved fashionable coaches, profitable three EuroLeague titles (2021, 2022, 2024), alongside home success in Turkey with Efes and Galatasaray, and earlier continental trophies together with the EuroCup (2016) and FIBA EuroChallenge (2012).
Panathinaikos completed the 2025–26 EuroLeague common season seventh with a 22–16 report. The staff superior into the postseason bracket however was eliminated in a tightly contested quarterfinal series against Valencia, which stretched to 5 video games earlier than a 3–2 defeat.
Offensively, the roster was anchored by Kendrick Nunn, who led the staff at 18.2 factors per sport on 50.4% capturing, together with 38.0% from three-point vary. Kostas Sloukas orchestrated the offense with 5.1 assists per sport, whereas Cedi Osman and Nigel Hayes-Davis offered constant wing scoring and spacing all through the marketing campaign.
Ataman’s teaching résumé spans greater than three many years, starting as an assistant at Efes Pilsen within the early Nineties and together with head teaching roles in Turkey, Italy, and Greece. His profession consists of six Turkish Tremendous League titles, a number of home cups, and repeated European-level success throughout completely different eras and roster constructions.
