Bulls fans, ready for a comeback? After ending the previous season on a low note, the Chicago Bulls are finally ready for a comeback in the upcoming 2022-2023 NBA Season, beefing up their current roster with the possible addition of 6’10” power forward Kostas Antetokounmpo.
Upon The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Greek, who is a free agent, is set to ink a training camp deal with the Chicago Bulls and will eventually be up for a competition for a two-way spot in the said team’s roster.
Hence, all eyes are set on this baller’s NBA comeback after previously winning the championship with the LA Lakers in 2021 apart from successful campaigns in Europe recently.
Kostas Antetokounmpo cleans up the offensive rebound 💪
— Bulls Nation (@BullsNationCP) October 12, 2022
NBA Career
Antetokounmpo was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2018 NBA Season, ranking 60th overall. He was then immediately traded to the Dallas Mavericks, signing a two-year contract. The 6-foot-10 forward debuted in the NBA with a 118-126 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. After playing for the franchise for just two games that season, the Mavericks waived him in 2019.
After a short while, Antetokounmpo signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, playing for the renowned team from 2019 until 2021. In the 2019-2020 NBA season, he won the championship with the Lakers, averaging 1.4 points per game joined by 0.4 assists and 0.6 rebounds per game in his five games with the team that season.
At the time, his career high was 7 points, posted in the Lakers’ 122-136 defeat from the Sacramento Kings. The 24-year-old baller appeared in 20 games across his two seasons with the team, averaging four minutes per game. He then left the team after two years. He left the NBA averaging 1.0 points per game, 1.0 rebounds, and 0.1 assists.
Later that year, he joined the LDLC ASVEL, a French professional basketball team.
Kostas Antetokounmpo averaged 5.8 points, with a .692 FG% and a 2.7 rebound per game in the Euro League. pic.twitter.com/PlE4v1uFlH
— Bulls Nation (@BullsNationCP) September 18, 2022
History Made
With his championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2019-2020 NBA Season, this Greek big man became the first ever Greek-born player to win the elusive NBA title.
The following season, as teammates with Milwaukee Bucks, his brothers Giannis and Thanasis Antetokounmpo were also able to achieve such a feat for the first time in their NBA careers.
Career Recently
This 6-foot-10-inch power forward most recently played for Greece in EuroBasket this summer.
In 2021, Antetokounmpo signed with the ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne, where he played as the power forward.
After 26 games, this Greek baller garnered an average of 5.8 points per game, 71.8% shooting efficiency on the floor, along with 2.6 rebounds. He later won the title with the team in the 2021-2022 French National Championship season.
Well-planned Plan, Maybe?
Despite having such a limited playtime in his NBA career with the Lakers and Mavericks, posting 21 points overall in his 22 games in three seasons, Antetokounmpo proved that he is worth the trade with such quality outputs, especially in the NBA G-League, playing for the Texas Legends and South Bay Lakers.
However, NBA fanatics, especially followers of the Bulls, speculated that signing Kostas might be the Bulls’ first move in acquiring Kostas’ brother, Giannis. This is not the first time fans had such a theory, as they also thought the Lakers acquiring Kostas’ services are the initial steps in pursuing his older brother Giannis to join the team, although everybody knows that that did not happen anyway.
Giannis, dubbed the “Greek Freak”, is one of the NBA’s most prized players and is actually a two-time league MVP. He leads the Milwaukee Bucks to a championship in the 2020-2021 NBA season.
Currently, Giannis has an ongoing contract with the Milwaukee Bucks that’ll run until 2026, although he can actually be a free agent after the 2024-2025 NBA season. Nevertheless, it’s still too early for fans to make conclusions and create theories as Giannis’ contract with the Bucks will still be up for quite some time.
In the meantime, the fans can only do nothing but hope for the best for the team.
F.O.E. @Kostas_ante13 @Thanasis_ante43 pic.twitter.com/4LJmK5BTZ4
— Giannis Antetokounmpo (@Giannis_An34) September 2, 2022
What to Expect from the Chicago Bulls
Apart from Kostas, the Chicago Bulls will banner players gained via the draft, spearheaded by Ayo Dosunmu, Dalen Terry, Marco Simonovic, Coby White, and Patrick Williams, all being top picks in the recent NBA Drafts by the Bulls. On the other hand, Lonzo Ball, DeMar DeRozan, Zack LaVine, and Nikola Vucevic were all acquired by the Bulls via trade.
Via free agency, Tony Bradley, Alex Caruso, Goran Dragic, Andre Drummond, Javon Freeman-Liberty, Javonte Green, Carlik Jones, and Derrick Jones were also included in the Bulls’ roster. Having such a stacked roster, with a rising star in Kostas Antetokounmpo, the Bulls is expected to deliver and finally bring the golden trophy back to the home of the Chicagoans.
Starting the week right 💪@AndreDrummond | #BullsNation pic.twitter.com/GwyvqtBdr4
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) September 19, 2022
Eyes on Kostas
Despite being perceived to be under the shadow of his brothers, Kostas is ready to deliver for the Bulls in the upcoming NBA season and lead the team back to the championship.
With such an impressive season with Greece in EuroBasket just this summer, this 6-foot-10-inch Greek baller will definitely be ready to make a name for himself and be such a force to reckon with this upcoming season.
Kostas might be the missing piece the Bulls have been looking for the past few years. Who knows, this might finally be his season, right?
Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
It's @Kostas_ante13 ✈️🇬🇷#FIBAWC #WinForHellas pic.twitter.com/forTEwWeLr
— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 🏆 (@FIBAWC) June 30, 2022
Credits on Featured Image: Thomas S, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
