With his team's last basket, Panathinaikos OPAP Athens guard Neoklis Avdalas made history on Friday night as the youngest player ever to score in a Turkish Airlines EuroLeague game this century.
Greens' Avdalas becomes youngest EuroLeague scorer ever!
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Avdalas was exactly 15 years, 10 months and 6 days old at the moment that he streaked ahead of the pack, took a pass from Kendrick Perry and dunked to finish the Greens' 82-67 home win against ALBA Berlin.
That broke a record that had stood almost two decades, since Manuchar Markoishvili scored a basket for Benetton Treviso on October 24, 2002, when he was 15 years, 11 months and 7 days old.
Avdalas, who came up in the Panathinaikos system, entered the game with 1:47 to play and missed his first shot attempt, but in the waning moments caught the ALBA defense sleeping and made his breakaway dunk with 16 seconds left in the game.
Several players, including Markoishvili, debuted at lower ages than Avdalis, who became the sixth youngest player to enter a EuroLeague game on Friday. But among the five ahead of them, none had scored in his first game. A couple never ended up scoring at all in the EuroLeague and others waited years, though Markoishvili did so in his second appearance.
It goes without saying that Avdalis is now also the youngest player to score in his debut. That distinction had belonged to Ricky Rubio, who scored his first points moments after making his debut for Joventut Badalona in the opening game of the 2006-07 season, when he was 16 years and 3 days old.