By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Kostas Antetokounmpo, Giannis’ younger brother, is the new member of Fenerbahce BEKO as the club officially announced Monday morning.
Antetokounmpo, 25, was on his way to Istanbul upon agreeing with Fenerbahce, Eurohoops confirmed a couple of days ago.
Per the press release: Fenerbahçe Beko Men’s Basketball Team has reached an agreement with Greek center Kostas Antetokounmpo (2.08, 1997) until the end of the 2022-23 season.
Kostas Antetokounmpo, who was born on November 20, 1997 in Athens, started basketball in Greece with Filathlitikos jersey.
Kostas, who went to America with his family in 2013 and continues his education and basketball life here, averaged 5.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks with Dayton University in the 2017-18 season.
Deciding to participate in the NBA Draft in 2018, Kostas was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2nd round with the 60th pick and was then traded to the Dallas Mavericks.
Kostas, who spent the 2018-19 season with the Dallas Mavericks in Texas Legends, one of the G-League teams, played in 2 NBA games with the Dallas Mavericks, and averaged 10.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks with the Texas Legends, where he played in 40 games.
Kostas, who signed a contract with the Los Angeles Lakers in the summer of 2019, appeared in 4 NBA games in 2019-2020 and 15 NBA games in 2020-21. Antetokounmpo averaged 14.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 blocks in 38 games in the South Bay Lakers, one of the G-League teams, in the 2019-20 season. Kostas Antetokounmpo won the NBA championship in 2020 with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Antetokounmpo, decided to return to Europe in the summer of 2021 and agreed with the French representative Asvel, averaging 5.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.7 blocks in 26 EuroLeague games with this team.
Returning to America in the summer of 2022, Kostas Antetokounmpo signed a two-way contract with the Chicago Bulls and played for the Windy City Blues of the G-League teams. Kostas averaged 11.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.3 blocks in 12 games in the G-League this season.
Fener was in the market for additional depth inside the paint with both Johnathan Motley and Nemanja Bjelica residing on the injury list. Fellow Turkish Airlines EuroLeague participants addressing similar needs, Panathinaikos and Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv were interested as well. But the head coach of Greece’s senior national team, Dimitris Itoudis serving as the play-caller at the Istanbul outfit at the club level played a significant role in landing Antetokounmpo.