After the loss of the trophy for the first time after six years, Dimitris Giannakopoulos decided to return back to his leading position. The “permanent” boss of Panathinaikos was not very happy with the new management of the Greek Basketball (Pro-Olympiacos) and after the negative results against Olympiacos (1-5 this season’s inbetween results), together with the statements of both the Head Coach of Olympiacos, Giorgos Bartzokas and the Angelopoulos brothers (presidents of Panathinaikos), he came for good.

Rumors bring a solid parner in the management of Panathinaikos as Nikos Stathopoulos together with BC Partners, a leading alternative investment manager focused on private equity, credit, and real estate, with deep networks across Europe and North America, seems to be adding a couple of millions taking the budget of Panathinaikos BC close to 8 million Euros, in compare to the 5.5 million of the previous season.

In June 2020, the son of the late Panathinaikos president and pharmaceutical tycoon Pavlos Giannakopoulos announced that the club was up for sale. He also set the price at €25 million.

Futhermore, Dimitrios Giannakopoulos was critical of the current situation and talked about how he hopes to improve fortunes for the Greens in a post shared on Instagram. “Everyone can fail, once or twice, the same goes for the almighty of basketball. But this season was unacceptable. Until a serious and genuine interest in the shares of Panathinaikos surfaces, we are not allowed such poor showings, strange to our club. Many mistakes were made, even though at first they looked appropriate.  We are all at fault, each of us from his own position.  verything now belongs to the past. The EuroLeague is changing, and the current administration is on its way to the exit, with any possible impact on Panathinaikos and most importantly for European basketball in general.  We are waiting to confirm leasing OAKA and it will become our home for the next 49 years. On our squad, we must rebuild almost from scratch and we will. In Greek basketball, we will restore the usual conditions. Everyone can be sure of that. The best has yet to come.”