PAOK

Basketball at PAOK began as an afterthought to the parent club. P.A.O.K. had been established in 1926, and two years later Alekos Alexiadis set up a basketball department under its roof.

The first league title came in 1959. The second took thirty-three years, and it arrived in 1992. In 1991 PAOK won the FIBA Saporta Cup, beating CAI Zaragoza 76–72 in Geneva. A year later they lost the final to Real Madrid 65–63 in overtime, then beat Olympiacos in the playoffs. In 1993 they finished third in the EuroLeague, beating Real Madrid Teka 78–76 in the third-place game.

Panagiotis Fasoulas spent twelve years at the club, from 1981 to 1993. He was on the court for the 1984 Greek Cup, the Saporta Cup and the league title, and he was named Finals MVP in 1992. The 1984 Cup final against Aris, won 74–70, is still called the "final of the shaven heads". Nikos Stavropoulos was in that side too. He scored the first three-pointer in Greek League history.

The more recent past has been quieter. PAOK reached the Basketball Champions League round of 16 in 2017–18 and the FIBA Europe Cup final in 2025, where they lost to Bilbao Basket after getting past Cholet over two legs. The team plays at the "Palataki", the PAOK Sports Arena, which holds a little over 8,000.

Aris, from the same city, is the opponent that shaped those years. Aris won seven consecutive league titles from 1985 to 1991, with Nikos Galis and Panagiotis Giannakis in their side, and PAOK's 1992 title ended that run. More recently PAOK beat them 63–57 after trailing by 15 points, and by 83–48 in a result.