Vassilis Toliopoulos

Vassilis Toliopoulos
Βασίλης Τολιόπουλος
No. 4 – Aris Thessaloniki
PositionShooting guard / Point guard
LeagueGBL
EuroCup
Personal information
Born (1996-06-15) 15 June 1996 (age 28)
Athens, Greece
Listed height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
Playing career2013–present
Career history
2013–2014Ikaros Chalkidas
2014–2015Kolossos Rodou
2015–2019Olympiacos
2019Aris Thessaloniki
2019–2021AEK Athens
2020–2021→ Ionikos Nikaias
2021–2022PAOK Thessaloniki
2022–2023Aris Thessaloniki
2023Boulazac
2023–presentAris Thessaloniki
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Men's Basketball
Representing  Greece
FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship B
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Greece Under-20

Vassilis "Billy" Toliopoulos (alternative spellings: Vasilis, Vasileios) (Greek: Βασίλης "Μπίλλυ" Τολιόπουλος; born 15 June 1996), nicknamed "Pistoliopoulos", is a Greek professional basketball player and the team captain for Aris of the Greek Basketball League (GBL) and the EuroCup. He is a 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) tall combo guard.

Youth career

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Toliopoulos played from a young age with the youth teams of the Greek club Panionios Athens, before he started his pro career with Ikaros Chalkidas.

Professional career

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Toliopoulos began his professional career with the Greek League club Ikaros Chalkidas,[1] during the 2013–14 season. In 2014, he moved to the Greek club Kolossos Rodou.[2] In the summer of 2015, he joined the Greek EuroLeague club Olympiacos Piraeus, when he signed a 4-year contract with the club.[3]

Toliopoulos moved to the Greek club Aris Thessaloniki, in early 2019. On 4 July 2019, he signed a four-year contract with the Greek club AEK Athens.[4] On 31 August 2020, Toliopoulos was loaned by AEK to the Greek club Ionikos Nikaias, for the 2020–21 season.[5] He averaged 11.6 points and 3.5 assists per game in the Greek Basket League with Ionikos, during the 2020–21 season.

On 29 June 2021, Toliopoulos signed a two-year (1+1) contract with the Greek club PAOK Thessaloniki. In 23 Greek Basket League games played during the 2021–22 season, he averaged 6.3 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2 assists, while playing in around 15 minutes per contest. Additionally, in 8 FIBA BCL games played, he averaged 8.3 points and 3.3 assists per game. On July 1, 2022, the club opted out of their mutual contract, and Toliopoulos became a free agent.

On 6 July 2022, Toliopoulos returned to Aris Thessaloniki. In 22 domestic Greek Basket League games played in the 2022–2023 season, he averaged 12.8 points, 2.3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1.5 steals per game, while playing around 29 minutes per contest. Toliopoulos also achieved a career-high of 37 points in a game against Peristeri Athens. On 22 April 2023, Toliopoulos moved to French 2nd Division club Boulazac Dordogne, for the remainder of the 2022–23 season. On 23 June 2023, he returned to Aris, after he renewed his contract with the club for another season.

During the 2023–2024 season, Toliopoulos averaged 13.2 points per contest, in 32 national domestic league matches, as well as 14.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game, in 17 EuroCup games played. On 14 June 2024, despite interest from many foreign clubs, Toliopoulos signed a new contract extension with Aris.[6]

National team career

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Greek junior national team

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Toliopoulos played at the 2012 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship, the 2013 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, and the 2014 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship with the junior national teams of Greece. He also played at the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Cup, and the 2nd division 2016 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship Division B, where he won a bronze medal.

Greek senior national team

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Toliopoulos has been a member of the senior men's Greek national team. He played with Greece at the 2022 FIBA EuroBasket qualifiers, the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers, the 2025 FIBA EuroBasket qualifiers, and the 2024 Piraeus FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, where he helped Greece qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics, for the first time since 2008. During the tournament, he was mostly a replacement, but due to his status as a lethal shooter, he quickly became a fan favorite, ending the tournament with a 8.3 point average. During the preliminary stage of the actual tournament, he became a game changer for the national team, because despite the losses in the first two games against Canada and Spain, Toliopoulos helped Greece's hopes for a comeback by making several three pointers in each game. In the final group stage game against Australia, where the national team won and qualified for the knockout stage of the tournament, he was less prolific from the three point line, but still proved to be extremely helpful for the national team, by scoring 14 points, all in crucial moments.

Style of play

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Toliopoulos' childhood idol was the former Greek basketball player Vassilis Spanoulis[7] and his style of play perfectly captures that.

Career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

EuroCup

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2023–24 Aris 17 12 24.1 .433 .364 .919 2.4 3.6 .8 .1 14.4 12.6

Domestic Leagues

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Regular season

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Note: Only games in the primary domestic competitions are included. Therefore, games in cup or European competitions are left out.

Year Team League GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2018–19 Olympiacos GBL 5 4.0 .375 .167 - .2 .6 0 0 1.4
2018–19 Aris GBL 15 19.0 .358 .342 .722 1.5 1.5 .5 0 7.7
2022–23 Aris GBL 22 28.7 .478 .322 .84 4.0 2.3 1.5 0.1 12.8

Awards and accomplishments

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Pro career

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Greek junior national team

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References

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  1. ^ Ίκαρος Χαλκίδας: Τολιόπουλος τετραετίας (in Greek)
  2. ^ Στον Κολοσσό ο Τολιόπουλος (in Greek)
  3. ^ Olympiacos inks point guard Toliopoulos long term.
  4. ^ "Deal with Toliopoulos". aekbc.gr. Online. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  5. ^ "AEK Athens officially loans Vasilis Toliopoulos to Ionikos BC Hellenic Coin". Sportando. August 31, 2020. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
  6. ^ Aris lands Mantzoukas and Hapoel Tel Aviv adds Yaacov.
  7. ^ Ο Βασίλης Τολιόπουλος στο SPORT24: "Με πιάνει δέος όταν μοιράζομαι το παρκέ με τον κόουτς Σπανούλη" (in Greek).
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