Report: Rick Pitino finalizing deal to coach EuroLeague team in Greece

Rick Pitino is getting back in the game.

The former Louisville and Hall of Fame coach is finalizing a deal that will make him the next head coach of Panathinaikos, a EuroLeague team based in Athens, Greece, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Panathinaikos — which has won six EuroLeague titles since 1996 — fired coach Xavi Pascual on Thursday after two seasons. Pascual led the team to a pair of consecutive Greek League titles, though has gotten off to a rough start this year. The team has lost five of its last seven games and started 6-7, dropping them to 10th place in the EuroLeague standings.

Thanasis Antetokounmpo, the older brother of Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, is currently on the Greens’ roster.

According to Wojnarowski, Pitino and Panathinaikos will have an official deal struck soon that will have him coaching his first game on Dec. 27. The deal is expected to run only through the end of the season.

Pitino, one of the winningest coaches in college basketball history, last coached at Louisville from 2001-2017. He was fired in 2017 after a massive FBI investigation revealed his involvement in a pay-for-play scheme. He also knew of a former staffer who paid women to help entertain recruits with stripteases and sexual acts. Louisville has since vacated its 2013 national championship and its 2012 Final Four appearance. The 66-year-old was never indicted in the scandal, though Louisville did violate NCAA rules under his watch, and he has long proclaimed his innocence — especially in a new memoir released earlier this year.

Pitino also spent two seasons with the New York Knicks and four with the Boston Celtics from 1997-2001.

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