Dallas Mavericks waive Kostas Antetokounmpo, Raptors plan to claim him off waivers

The Dallas Mavericks elected to waive Kostas Antetokounmpo yesterday after just one season with the team. Kostas was never expected to become the player that his brother Giannis has, but there is still potential there.

The Dallas Mavericks decided to part ways with the third of four Antetokounmpo brothers yesterday, waiving him from the team. Kostas Antetokounmpo played for the Mavericks all year last year on a two-way contract, but only saw the court in the big leagues in two games for a total of 11 minutes.

When Kostas was drafted by the Mavs with the 60th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, there were two clear motives in play. One was that Kostas had almost the same body type as Giannis Antetokounmpo, his older brother, and Dallas wanted to see if they could tap into that potential. The other was so Kostas could be a potential luring chip when Giannis became a free agent.

Obviously after just one year, the Mavericks have given up the ghost on both of those possibilities. He has grown as a player since joining Dallas, but his trajectory is looking more like an end of bench player at best, something Dallas does not need to spend years of development and money on.

Many Mavs fans, myself included, were excited about the prospect of another Antetokounmpo brother joining the league. I was not naive enough to believe he would ever become a future MVP in the league, but I felt that his ceiling could have been a decent role player for a team who can use a long, athletic wing.

There is still the possibility that Kostas can deliver on that potential, but it will have to happen with the Toronto Raptors, the team that claimed him off of the waivers shortly after the Mavs put him there. Toronto obviously is hoping for one of the two things that the Mavs were hoping for in this scenario.

The decision by Dallas to let Kostas go should not come as a surprise to anyone who watched NBA summer league. In a situation where Kostas should have thrived, he really struggled to create a name for himself. His athleticism was impressive and had its highlight reel moments, they were few and far between.

It was fun getting to watch Kostas during his time in Dallas and we wish nothing but the best for him going forward in his life and in his NBA career. The Mavs now have a guaranteed open two-way contract spot, and there could very well be another one open in the near future. Time will tell who gets to fill those spots.