Galis led the Greece men's national basketball team to the EuroBasket's gold medal in 1987, and he earned the tournament's MVP award in the process.

Following his stunning success in winning the 1987 EuroBasket title, Galis won both the Mr. Europa and the Euroscar player of the year awards.

[11] His years with Aris Thessaloniki and the Greece national team, lifted Greek basketball from a place of relative obscurity, to both European and global power status.

The child of a poor immigrant family, from the Greek islands of Rhodes and Nisyros, Galis took up boxing in his early years, after his father, George Georgalis, who had also been a boxer in his youth.

While at Seton Hall, Galis was a good friend and roommate of Italian-American professional basketball player Dan Callandrillo.

However, he turned the offers down, because at the time, and until 1989, FIBA did not have professional status, and consequently did not allow NBA players to compete at the national team level.

Galis was the indisputable leader of Aris Thessaloniki, as he averaged more than 30 points per game in nearly every season and competition that he played in with the team.

With Aris Thessaloniki, he played alongside other great European players like Panagiotis Giannakis and Slobodan Subotić, who was known in Greece as Lefteris Soumpotits.

In the one major disappointment of an otherwise glittering club career with Aris Thessaloniki, all three of Galis' FIBA European Champions' Cup Final Four appearances ended in losses in the semifinals.

In fact, cinemas and theaters in Greece would often reduce their ticket admission prices on Thursday evenings, when Aris Thessaloniki was playing games, as large segments of the country settled down to watch them on television.

The 1991 FIBA Jubilee event was held in order to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the creation of the sport of basketball in 1891, by the Canadian James Naismith.

The FIBA Jubilee All-Star Game took place at the Peace and Friendship Stadium, in Piraeus, Athens, Greece, and it included numerous legends of European basketball.

[26] However, Aris Thessaloniki's 1991–92 FIBA EuroLeague season was a disappointment, as the club finished group stage play with a record of 3–11.

That combined with Galis' huge salary at the time and the fact that the team was in a period of decline, were the main reasons for his departure.

Galis, who adored the city of Thessaloniki and Aris' fans, had originally insisted on remaining with the club and playing for the team, as he believed that he still had a lot to offer.

[27] In his last game for the club, Galis scored 18 points (6/9, 6/9, 0/2) as Aris beat AEK 74–62 to win yet another Greek Cup title in 1992.

He was the player who then led the "Greens" to a club rebirth, after it had suffered through a long drought period, during which the historical team had remained without winning any titles.

The "Greens" eventually finished in third place in the FIBA European League that season, after they lost in the semifinals to their arch-rivals Olympiacos Piraeus, by a score of 77–72.

Galis rallied to score 18 and 22 points in games 3 and 4, both of which Panathinaikos won to seal 3rd spot and a place in the FIBA European League for the following season.

In his third season with Panthinaikos Athens (1994–95), Galis teamed up with Panagiotis Giannakis and Žarko Paspalj, to make a strong effort to win the championship of the FIBA European League.

Galis' playing career then ended controversially, on October 18, 1994,[28] before Panathinaikos Athens' Week 2 game of the Greek League's 1994–95 season.

[30][31][32] [35][36] Galis first played with the Greece men's national basketball team at the 1980 FIBA European Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

He scored 40 points in the tournament's finals against the Soviet Union national team and its legendary player, Šarūnas Marčiulionis, as he led Greece to a 103–101 victory.

Galis is most remembered from that tournament, for a stunning effort against the Soviet team led by Marčiulionis, and its other star player, Arvydas Sabonis, in their semifinals game.

Galis also represented Greece at the 1991 FIBA Centennial Jubilee, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the creation of the sport of basketball, by the Canadian James Naismith.

[40] Galis is in the second place, on the list of the all-time career scoring leaders in the history of Greece's senior national team.

The Hellenic Basketball Federation retired Galis' number 4 jersey of the Greek senior men's team, on 4 August 2023.

Galis' great strength and leaping ability allowed him to have an excellent post game against other guards, despite his short stature, as compared to most other players.

In September 2007, Galis was inducted as a member of the first class of the FIBA Hall of Fame, which includes the best basketball players in the history of the game internationally.

In May 2013, his former club team Aris Thessaloniki, renamed the court of their home arena, the Alexandreio Melathron, to "Nick Galis Hall".