Who made more steals in the Euroleague All-Time?
Stealing the ball is an important part of the defense and many times tough games or even finals were decided by a steal made at the right time. Most of the times, the steals are boosting the offense, providing easy baskets or they have as consequence unsportsmanlike fouls, rewarded with 2 free-throws and the ball possession which is pure gold in a balanced battle. Let’s see now who made more steals during his career in the Euroleague. Here is the top 10:
10. J.R. Holden – the man who stole Spain the Eurobasket 2007 title has 247 units at this category.
9. Juan Carlos Navarro – the FC Barcelona legend accumulated 249 in his entire career spent with the same team.
8. Jonas Maciulis – even if he is not playing in the Euroleague for the last seasons, the Lithuanian is still a top 10 players with 250.
7. Vassilis Spanoulis – the Euroleague’s king scorer was good also at this chapter, having 254.
6. Gianluca Basile – the Italian 3 point shooter was one of the best as well at this category with 261 units.
5. Rudy Fernandez – even if he is getting old, the ex-NBA-er still has it. Till now he made 286 steals.
4. Nick Calathes – currently he has 298 steals, but he is the main candidate to dethrone Diamantidis in the next years.
3. Pablo Prigioni – the oldest guard who made his debut in the NBA, impressed in Euroleague with 322 steals.
2. Theo Papaloukas – one of the all-time greatest in the main competition in Europe has 335.
1. Dimitris Diamantidis – another Greek legendary player is headlining the top with an unbelievable number of steals 434, which is almost 100 more than the second place.
This record will be very difficult to break in the future because the only 2 players that can actually have a chance to do it are Rudy Fernandez (35 years old) and Nick Calathes (31 years old). While Rudy is a bit older to break the record, the guard of PAO can do it if he maintains this rhythm for a couple of years, especially now in the new Euroleague’s era, when much more games are played each season. It will be a historical moment if Nick Calathes would pass the legend of PAO, Dimitris Diamantidis on this chapter.
Photo: Euroleague
Gratian Cormos
