MARCH 8, 12:16pm: The signing is official, the Blazers announced on their website.
MARCH 6, 7:15pm: The Trail Blazers are signing center Georgios Papagiannis to a 10-day contract, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Kings waived Papagiannis on February 8 after completing a three-team trade with the Cavaliers and Jazz.
Papagiannis, 20, was one of the Kings’ first-round picks (13th overall) in the 2016 draft after the team traded down from the eighth overall pick. He struggled in 38 career games with Sacramento, averaging 4.2 PPG and 3.2 RPG; his field-goal percentage also took a hit this season, going from .549 to .415.
The 7’1″ center’s agent, Marios Olympios, criticized the Kings’ treatment of Papagiannis after he was waived. Olympios cited Papagiannis’ performance with the G League’s Reno Bighorns, where he averaged 13.5 PPG and 9.7 RPG in 10 contests, as a sign that can perform at a high level.
“He (Papagiannis) never got a chance by the Kings,” Olympios said on the Greek radio station Sport FM, Aris Barkas of Euro Hoops writes “He had a double-double every time he played in the G-League. He had to travel for two and a half hours everytime he was assigned to Reno and still he performed. There are many details that prove that he never got a real chance”.
Papagiannis figures to battle for playing time with the likes of Jusuf Nurkic, Ed Davis and Zach Collins present on the depth chart.
So those 38 games weren’t a chance? Maybe time to find an agent that won’t get laughed out of the room?
Games are important, but so are minutes. He’s really only seen consistent playing time during his first season. Rolling out a raw 20yo like Papagiannis for 7 minutes a night is kind of a waste. That coupled with getting cut a year and a half into his rookie contract, I’d say it’s a fair gripe. and aren’t the Kings the ones usually getting laughed out of the room?
Watch him turn into the next Marc Gasol.