Ty Lawson trade analysis: Kostas Papanikolaou

The Ty Lawson saga that unfolded over the last few months has been well documented at BSNDenver.com. From his first few DUIs to his numerous Instagram snafus all the way to his rehab assignment in California — we’ve seen and covered it all. And while I’ve expounded greatly on how the Nuggets got fleeced when ultimately trading Lawson to Houston, I’ve yet to actually sit down and examine the assets Denver received in return, which I’ll be doing over the next week in this series.

The second and final player in this brief series (considering one, Pablo Prigioni, was already waived and the other, Joey Dorsey, a 31-year-old journeyman on his eighth team in as many years, is likely to be waived as well) comes in the form of Kostas Papanikolaou, a 25-year-old NBA sophomore from Trikala, Greece.

I’ll be completely honest: I had no idea who Papanikolaou was prior to being traded to Denver. Therefore everything below is essentially just a compilation of articles I’ve read, videos I’ve watched and stats I’ve glanced at since the Ty Lawson trade was made official. And though it’s nothing more than regurgitated research, what I can tell you about Papanikolaou is that he’s crafty, athletic (far more so than he appears) and incredibly intriguing overall.

In 2012 Papanikolaou was taken in the late second round by the New York Knicks as a draft-and-stash prospect. After spending a few years overseas, winning several Euroleague titles in the process, Papanikolaou finally made his way to the NBA last season with the Houston Rockets at age 24. Throughout the first two months of the season Papanikolaou was seen as one of Houston’s more valuable contributors off the bench, but with the arrival of Josh Smith and Corey Brewer, Papanikolaou’s role was downsized immediately and by midwinter he was sidelined for good, a trend that continued for the rest of his rookie campaign.

Papanikolaou saw the most action of his young career with the Rockets in the month of November where he average six points, four rebounds, three assists and one steal in 26 minutes per game. Though certainly underwhelming from a productivity standpoint, Papanikolaou nonetheless completed his first full year in the NBA with an abundance of impressive individual plays, as seen in the first video above.

In analyzing where Papanikolaou fits in with the Nuggets’ 2015-16 roster it’s important to keep in mind that unlike Nick Johnson, Papanikolaou has a substantial — yet stomachable — contract for the upcoming year at just under $5 million. Should Josh Kroenke give Tim Connelly the green light to keep him, Papanikolaou would then become the fifth highest paid player on the entire Nuggets roster. And no matter how much Connelly may approve the former Rocket’s altruistic playing style, $5 million is a lot of dough to dish out to someone who might not ever make a substantial impact in real games.

I’ll dive head first into the Nuggets’ final roster consolidation in the coming days, but as of now I think it’s pretty imperative Connelly and Co. do what’s within their power to keep Papanikolaou this upcoming season. At 25 and entering only his second year playing at the highest professional level in the world, it’s fairly nearsighted to write him off based on his lack of potency throughout his rookie crusade. What if the Nuggets had disbanded with former center Timofey Mozgov when he was buried at third-string center in George Karl‘s rotation? The fact is, Papanikolaou clearly has talent — and underrated athleticism, and savvy, and high IQ, and passion, and an elite attribute (passing) and most importantly, he still has Father Time on his side. Though it may cost a few million more than they’d like, paying Papanikolaou handsomely just to see what he’s made of is a gamble well worth taking, especially if he becomes a valued contributor off the bench this upcoming season.