Kevin Joseph Pangos (born January 26, 1993) is a Canadian-Slovenian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for

Olimpia Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

of the Italian

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club basketball league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP). It is the highest-tier le ...

(LBA) and the EuroLeague. He spent his

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

career playing for the

Gonzaga Bulldogs The Gonzaga Bulldogs () (also known unofficially as the Zags) are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing Gonzaga University, located in Spokane, Washington, United States. Gonzaga competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...

of the

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...

. He was named the 2015 WCC Player of the Year, as well as a third-team All-American by

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

. Pangos has also represented

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

on the international stage. He earned an

All-EuroLeague Second Team The All-EuroLeague Team is an award for Europe's premier level league, the EuroLeague, that is given to the league's top ten basketball players for each season, since the 2000–01 season. During the FIBA era of the EuroLeague, players were honor ...

selection in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Early life

Pangos is a third-generation Slovene Canadian as his paternal grandparents emigrated to Canada from the former Yugoslav Republic. He has a Slovenian passport. Like many young Canadians, Pangos played youth

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

. He had family connections to the game—an uncle played in the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

, and a cousin was drafted by the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL) ...

—but he did not like the sport as much as basketball. In any event, he had much deeper family links to that sport. His father Bill played basketball for the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

and finished his 26th season as the head women's basketball coach at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in 2013, his mother Patty played

Canadian Interuniversity Sport U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Can ...

basketball at

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

, and his sister Kayla played under their father at York. Growing up, Pangos' biggest inspiration was

Steve Nash Stephen John Nash (born 7 February 1974) is a Canadian professional basketball coach and former player who most recently served as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 18 seasons in the NBA, ...

, a Canadian who developed into one of the NBA's top point guards and a two-time

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

. At training camps throughout his youth, Pangos paid special attention to stories about Nash; he recalled in a 2013 interview, "Someone would say, 'Steve Nash would make 500 shots a day.' I figured I had to make 500 shots a day." Although he played for various national and provincial youth squads, he frequently trained alone or with his father, as he found relatively little high-level competition in Ontario.

High school career

Pangos played for

Dr. John M. Denison Secondary School Dr. J.M. Denison S.S. is a public high school in the York Region District School Board located on 135 Bristol Road, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. It opened in 1989, additions were built in 1991, and a new technological studies wing was completed in l ...

Newmarket, Ontario Newmarket ( 2021 population: 87,942) is a town and regional seat of the Regional Municipality of York in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is part of Greater Toronto in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. The name stems from the ...

. In his senior season, he led Denison to the OFSAA Triple-A title game where he scored a game-high 26 points in a 69–64 loss to Anderson CVI. He is highly respected for being one of the top players to come from a high school in the

Regional Municipality of York The Regional Municipality of York, also called York Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Simcoe and Toronto. The region was established after the passing of then Bill 102, An Act to Establish The Regional M ...

College career

Pangos received offers from several NCAA Division I schools including

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. Notably, he and

Trey Burke Alfonso Clark "Trey" Burke III (born November 12, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the Stockton Kings of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Michigan Wolverines where in the 2012–13 season, he earn ...

were both offered scholarships to Michigan, but only on a first-come, first-served basis; Burke accepted first. Pangos opted for Gonzaga after receiving favorable reviews from

Kelly Olynyk Kelly Tyler Olynyk ( ; born April 19, 1991) is a Canadian professional basketball player for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Gonzaga Bulldogs, where he earned NCAA All-American ho ...

and his family; the Pangos and Olynyk families are longtime friends in the closely knit Canadian basketball community. In his second NCAA game against

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

he scored 33 points and tied a school record with nine three-pointers made in an 89–81 victory. This game kicked off a stellar 2011-12 freshman season at Gonzaga, as Pangos led the team in many statistical categories including points, assists, steals, minutes played, 3-pointers made, and free throw percentage. He helped Gonzaga to a 13–3 record in the

, good enough for second place, and a 26–7 overall record. In the WCC semi-finals Pangos led Gonzaga by

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

in a 77–58 victory, scoring a game-high 30 points on 10–17 shooting. Pangos did not perform well in the 2012

finals in a 78–74 overtime loss to Saint Mary's. Pangos shot just 3–18 from the field and 1–10 from three-point range. Gonzaga entered the 2012 NCAA men's basketball tournament as a #7 seed. In his first NCAA tournament appearance, Pangos scored 13 points on 5–7 shooting and added 5 assists in a lop-sided 77–54 victory over

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

; however, Gonzaga would lose to #2-seeded

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

in the third round of the tournament 73–66. Pangos would score just 10 points on 3–13 shooting. On January 29, 2015, against Portland, Pangos broke

Blake Stepp Blake Roy Stepp (born February 4, 1982) is an American retired professional basketball player. After a standout prep career at South Eugene High School and college career at Gonzaga University, he was drafted in the second round of the 2004 NBA ...

's school record of 288 made 3-pointers. As of March 11, 2015, Pangos currently has a school-record of 313 3-pointers, which is good enough for fifth place all-time in

men's basketball.

Professional career

Gran Canaria (2015–2016)

Kevin Pangos 3 BC Žalgiris EuroLeague 20180223

On July 24, 2015, Pangos signed a two-year deal with the Spanish club Herbalife Gran Canaria.

Žalgiris (2016–2018)

In 2016, Pangos joined the Lithuanian club Žalgiris, with whom Pangos signed a "1+1" deal. In May 2018, he was named the

for the 2017–18 season. With Žalgiris, he reached the 2018 EuroLeague Final Four, the team's first participation in 20 years. There, the team finished in third place after losing to Fenerbahçe and defeating

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...

Barcelona (2018–2020)

On July 25, 2018, Pangos signed a two-year deal with FC Barcelona Lassa of the

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

and the EuroLeague. Due to an injury, he played three games during the 2019-20 season. Pangos parted ways with Barcelona on July 5, 2020.

Zenit Saint Petersburg (2020–2021)

On July 6, 2020, Pangos signed with

Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Зенит» ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, acco ...

of the

VTB United League VTB United League (russian: Единая Лига ВТБ) is an international professional men's club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that was founded in 2008. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus an ...

and the EuroLeague. He had an exceptionally productive season in Russia, making the

All-EuroLeague First Team The All-EuroLeague Team is an award for Europe's premier level league, the EuroLeague, that is given to the league's top ten basketball players for each season, since the 2000–01 season. During the FIBA era of the EuroLeague, players were honor ...

in the process and averaging 13.5 points and 6.6 assists per game. On July 23, 2021, Pangos officially parted ways with Zenit.

Cleveland Cavaliers (2021–2022)

On September 17, 2021, Pangos signed with the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

. On February 19, 2022, he was waived. On February 23, 2022, Pangos joined Russian club

, signing a contract until the end of the 2023–2024 season. He did not make his debut with the team due to subsequent

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

and its implications.

Olimpia Milano (2022–present)

On July 27, 2022, Pangos signed for

of the

(LBA) and the EuroLeague.

National team career

Pangos played for the 2009 Canadian Cadet Men's National team that won bronze at the 2009

FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship The FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship is the Americas basketball championship for players under 16 years that take place every two years among national teams of the FIBA Americas zone. The event started in 2009. The top four finishers qualify ...

, where he averaged 18.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 3.2 steals per game.Kevin Pangos at Gonzaga Men's Basketball retrieved from Pangos also represented

at the

2010 FIBA Under-17 World Championship The 2010 FIBA Under-17 World Championship (German: FIBA U17-Weltmeisterschaft 2010) was the inaugural edition of the FIBA Under-17 World Championship, the biennial international men's youth basketball championship contested by the U17 national tea ...

, where he averaged 15.8 points, 5 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game, en route to a bronze-medal game victory over Lithuania. He was named to the All-Tournament Team. In 2011, Pangos travelled with Canada's Under-19 men's basketball team to

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

, for the

2011 FIBA Under-19 World Championship The 2011 FIBA Under-19 World Championship (Latvian: 2011. gada FIBA pasaules čempionāts līdz 19 gadu vecumam) was the 10th edition of the FIBA U19 World Championship, the biennial international men's youth basketball championship contested by ...

. He finished second on the team in scoring, averaging 13.5 points per game, and led the team in assists, with 3.1 per game Pangos finished fourth among the tournament in steals per game leaders, averaging 2.1 per game. On May 24, 2022, Pangos agreed to a three-year commitment to play with the Canadian senior men's national team.

Career statistics

NBA

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, 24 , , 3 , , 6.9 , , .326 , , .231 , , .750 , , .5 , , 1.3 , , .1 , , .0 , , 1.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 24 , , 3 , , 6.9 , , .326 , , .231 , , .750 , , .5 , , 1.3 , , .1 , , .0 , , 1.6

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2, Žalgiris , 30 , , 30 , , 20.8 , , .381 , , .457 , , .862 , , 1.8 , , 3.2 , , .9 , , .0 , , 8.7 , , 7.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , 36 , , 36 , , 27.5 , , .483 , , .475 , , .754 , , 2.7 , , 5.9 , , .7 , , .1 , , 12.7 , , 14.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;" ,

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, 35 , , 16 , , 20.3 , , .386 , , .317 , , .741 , , 1.1 , , 3.2 , , .4 , , .0 , , 7.0 , , 6.1 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;" , Zenit , 39 , , 39 , , 29.0 , , .449 , , .390 , , .845 , , 2.1 , , 6.7 , , .7 , , .0 , , 13.5 , , 14.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 140 , , 121 , , 24.6 , , .434 , , .414 , , .797 , , 1.9 , , 4.8 , , .7 , , .0 , , 10.6 , , 10.8

Liga ACB

Awards and achievements

*2015 CBB 3-point Contest Champion *2012 WCC Newcomer of the Year *2012 First Team All-WCC *2012 WCC All-Freshman Team. *2013 First Team All-WCC *2014 First Team All-WCC *2015 First Team All-WCC *2015 WCC Player of the Year *2015 Sporting News Third Team All-American

References

External links

Kevin Pangos
at acb.com
Kevin Pangos
at eurobasket.com
Kevin Pangos
at euroleaguebasketball.net *

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pangos, Kevin 1993 births Living people 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup players All-American college men's basketball players Basketball people from Ontario BC Žalgiris players BC Zenit Saint Petersburg players Canadian expatriate basketball people in Lithuania Canadian expatriate basketball people in Russia Canadian expatriate basketball people in Spain Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United States Canadian men's basketball players Canadian people of Dutch descent Canadian people of Slovenian descent CB Gran Canaria players Cleveland Cavaliers players Cleveland Charge players FC Barcelona Bàsquet players Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball players Liga ACB players People from East Gwillimbury Point guards Shooting guards Slovenian expatriate basketball people in Lithuania Slovenian expatriate basketball people in Russia Slovenian expatriate basketball people in Spain Slovenian men's basketball players Undrafted National Basketball Association players