Greek shipowner Nikos Tsakos has given two new supertankers names drawn from basketball, using the announcement to renew his call for a stronger Greek flag presence across Greek-owned shipping. 

Speaking at the Piraeus Marine Club, Tsakos said two under-construction VLCCs belonging to the Tsakos group would be named “EuroLeague 26” and “NY Knicks”, according to Newmoney. 

Both vessels, he said, will fly the Greek flag, giving the announcement a wider message beyond sport. 

Tsakos said that there could be no great Greek shipping without a strong Greek flag, citing national and geopolitical reasons. He also said Greek shipowners did not only want to lift trophies, but also to raise the Greek flag on their ships. 

The message was also carried visually through a graphic shared by Tsakos on his personal platform, showing the shipowner beside a tanker flying the Greek flag under the phrase “Make Greece Great Again”, or ‘MAGGA’. 

The wording gave a more populist edge to a familiar industry argument: that Greek-owned shipping, while global by nature, should carry a stronger national imprint. 

The New York reference follows a wider push by Tsakos Energy Navigation to strengthen its profile outside traditional shipping circles. Earlier this year, the company announced a partnership with the New York Knicks, bringing one of Greece’s best-known tanker groups closer to Madison Square Garden and the US sports market. 

Greek media also reported that the agreement made TEN an official sponsor of the NBA team, with Newmoney quoting Tsakos as saying the company was supporting “the two most iconic teams of the two continents”. Naftemporiki also reported on the partnership, noting TEN’s global activity in energy transportation. 

For Tsakos, the naming of the vessels appears to bring together several strands of his public identity, shipping, sport, Greece and the Greek diaspora. The “NY Knicks” name reflects the company’s recent US partnership, while “EuroLeague 26” carries a clear link to European basketball and Greece’s strong sporting culture. 

At the same time, the decision to place the newbuildings under the Greek flag turns what might otherwise have been a playful naming gesture into a more pointed statement on national presence at sea. 

The argument is not new. Greek shipowners control one of the world’s most powerful merchant fleets, but the question of how much of that fleet should return to, or remain under, the Greek flag has long carried both commercial and political weight. 

By attaching that debate to two supertankers with basketball-linked names, Tsakos has turned a technical shipping announcement into a broader message about identity, visibility and influence. 

For Greece, the symbolism is hard to miss. A Greek-owned tanker named after a New York basketball team, promoted under the phrase “Make Greece Great Again”, and set to fly the Greek flag, speaks to an industry that remains deeply national in identity, even as it operates across the world.