Dallas Mavericks: Kostas makes the most of his minutes

The Dallas Mavericks played their first preseason game last night and Kostas Antetokounmpo had a solid outing. Will this effect his future with the team any?

It was a fun night last night, getting the Dallas Mavericks NBA season off to a solid start against an outmatched Chinese league team. That was no surprise, of course, but what was surprising were some of the solid moments from some unexpected Mavs players.

One of those unexpected players was Kostas Antetokounmpo, little brother of the Greek Freak, Giannis Antetokounmpo. Kostas was signed to a two-way contract before the season started, thanks in large part to his crazy high upside.

Kostas is expected to be spending most of his time developing with the Texas Legends this year, but if he can tap into the next level of his play, he could be in a solid situation. Kostas played his college ball at Dayton University last year and decided to go with the one-and-done strategy.

Kostas’ time at Dayton was incredibly underwhelming, which is why most people were surprised when he decided to declare for the draft. Some issues like getting along with the coaches were brought up, but it did not help his draft stock as he fell to the final pick of the draft.

Dallas selected Kostas with the 60th pick which had plenty of people excited, but he will have his work cut out for him to get to the American Airlines Center. That process may already be in effect, though, as Kostas was impressive in his debut with the team.

Kostas ended up earning only 9 minutes in this first game, but made them count, earning 8 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 blocks. He made 4-5 shots and looked really good in his time on the court.

I am of the mindset that the Mavs want to slow play Kostas this year, using him as more of a G-League star than a late bench spot in the NBA. If they do keep him on the Mavs, I hope they find some time to get him to play. I see the talent and I see the excitement for him, I just want to see consistency and proof that he can do good things at the highest level.

This should be a good year for the Mavericks. Maybe not because of Kostas, but for a lot of other reasons. Kostas could just be an added bonus for this team. And I am perfectly fine with that.