Olympiakos and Panathinaikos had a rather smooth draw for the first group stage of the Euroleague, European basketball’s top club competition, on Thursday as they are among the favourites for a top-two finish in their pools.

Maroussi, on the other hand, will have a mountain to climb in order to find themselves in the group stages like last year, as they will first have to negotiate three qualifying rounds.

Olympiakos, last season’s finalists, are seeded at the top of Group B and will face Real Madrid, Unicaja Malaga, Virtus Roma, Brose Baskets and one of the teams to emerge from the qualifying rounds.

Panathinaikos are drawn in Group D, along with CSKA Moscow, Valencia, Efes Pilsen, Armani Jeans Milano and Olimpia Ljubljana.

The regular season tips off with the traditional opening game, held this year on Monday, October 18, with the remaining 11 opening week games taking place later that week. The 10-game regular season culminates on December 23.

Then the top four teams of each group advance to the second group stage, the Top-16, that opens on January 16 and goes through March 3, after which the eight remaining teams will play in the best-of-five quarterfinal play-offs later that month and into early April to determine the foursome to compete in the 2011 Final Four.

Sixteen more clubs, including Maroussi, will contest the qualifying rounds to round out the four groups of six teams. Just two of those teams will make it to the group stage.

Maroussi will first need to overcome Budivelnik Kiev and then the winner of the Khimki vs Caserta tie (with the Russians being the favourites). If Maroussi go through these two rounds, they will then clash with one of Villeurbanne, Buducnost, Le Mans or Banvit for a place in the regular season of the Euroleague.

Qualifying begins on September 21 and lasts through October 8.

In a clearout that could see several players leaving, Jasikevicius, did not have his costly contract renewed.

The Lithuanian became Greece's best-paid sportsman when he joined the Greens three years ago but the constraints of the economic crisis affecting the country means that basketball clubs - even giants Panathinaikos - have to trim their budgets.

Another casualty of these cutbacks could be Greek guard Vassilis Spanoulis. Panathinaikos have given the international until Monday to decide whether he will accept a new contract with a reduced wage packet.