Neoklis “Neo” Avdalas is the guy that caught so much attention, not only this summer, but for the last couple of years in European basketball.

Greece had a fruitful summer when it comes to basketball, as the national team grabbed a bronze medal at the Eurobasket 2025 in Riga, Latvia, after beating Finland (92:89) in the Third place game.

It was the first medal Greece has secured since 2009, when they were also bronze medalists at the Eurobasket in Poland. Many of the players, including Giannis Antetoukounmpo were just kids when this happened and were reflecting on that after the game.

The “Greek Freak” is already 30 years old, so Hellas is widely searching for a guy that could step up and be his successor in the competitions to come. And it really looks like they won’t have to search that far…

Neoklis “Neo” Avdalas is the guy that caught so much attention, not only this summer, but for the last couple of years in European basketball. He was actually bound to be picked at this year’s NBA Draft, but interestingly decided to step out and follow the NCAA route.

Avdalas was on every Big Board for the Draft

Many well-known American journals including ESPN, MSN or even the New York Post listed Neoklis Avdalas as the second round pick for this year’s NBA Draft. He was actually placed somewhere between 40th and 45th position and many of the NBA teams were in contact with him regarding his future.

But, the Greek youngster decided to drop out from the Draft and went on to commit to Virginia Tech Hokies, where he will play basketball upcoming fall and spring. He will have the opportunity to work with coach Mike Young who is with the program for the last six seasons.

That also means that Neoklis Avdalas is going to play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which maybe isn’t as competitive as the Southeastern Conference, but will surely give him enough space to develop his game, which is already quite fascinating.

Who in fact is Neoklis “Neo” Avdalas?

Neoklis “Neo” Avdalas was born on February 4, 2006 in Athens, Greece to a family already having strong basketball roots. His father, Dimitris Avdalas was also a basketball player and with him, Neoklis developed a huge love for the game.

Standing at 2.03m tall, he can play multiple positions – being a point guard, shooting guard and small forward. He began playing basketball at a very young age, but actually became a pro just four years ago, in 2021, when he had a stint with Panathinaikos.

It’s interesting that under coaches Dimitrios Priftis and Georgios Vovoras, Avdalas played in six EuroLeague games in his first pro season and also made 10 appearances in the Greek Basket League. That led him to sign a five-year professional contract with Panathinaikos in January, 2022.

Since Panathinaikos didn’t have enough space in the roster to give Avdalas minutes to improve and develop even more, the “Greens” decided to loan him to Karditsa in September 2023.

One year later, Avdalas was loaned once again, but this time to Peristeri, where he made a huge breakthrough, even being named the Greek League Most Improved Player in 2025. With the team, “Neo” also reached the semifinal of the FIBA Champions League.

Avdalas was reagular in the FIBA Youth tournaments, even this summer, after commiting to Virginia Tech. He played at the FIBA Eurobasket U20 in his homeland in Heraklion, but Hellas failed to grab a medal, as they were eliminated in quaterfinals.

Sharp shooter from the arc, Avdalas can make every defense pay

It’s important to note that Neoklis Avdalas is a very diverse player when it comes to the offensive side of his game. Besides being a very sharp shooter from the arc, he is also good at driving towards the basket, so he can make every defense pay, if they are caught off-guard.

When it comes to his three-point shooting, Neoklis Avdalas can attack defenders off balance with sidesteps and has amazing percentages when shooting off the drible. Every time he sees a hand down from the defense, he is bound to shoot a three-pointer and doesn’t hesitate even if he just got the ball in his hands.

Even when driving towards the basket, he makes use of his great dribling skills and technique, but can sometimes get in tough situations under the basket and therefore make a lot of turnovers, which is one of the downsides of his game. In situations like these, he usually tries to find open teammates out in the three-point range or using “pump-fakes”, creating positions of his own under the basket.

As for the defensive side of the game, he is really good at protecting the rim, which is not very usual for his position and knows where to position himself to grab the rebound. Besides that, the reads the play very well and has a good anticipitation to get steals.

Many compare his game to the one of Franz Wagner of the German national basketball team, since he is also very agressive on the ball when it comes to defense and has very good three-point percentages, like the Orlando Magic star player.

Last year playing for Peristeri in the Greek Basket League, Neoklis Avdalas had an average od 8,8 points per game with 2,6 rebounds and 1,3 assists. He had 40,7% from 3PG range and 45,6% FG overall.

As he will certainly get more time and space in the Virginia Tech basketball team, where he will play with players of his own age, it is certain that these numbers will climb even higher in the upcoming NCAA season.