By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
Kostas Papanikolaou is already one of the most accomplished Greek players, having won back to back Euroleague titles with Olympiacos, the Spanish Liga Endesa title with Barcelona and he is also playing in the NBA. Still he had to do it the hard way this season, after being cut and re-signed by the Denver Nuggets with a minimum deal. The Greek forward spoke to Eurohoops about his strange summer and his decision to return to the States in order to establish himself in the league.
– You missed a big part of last season due to injury. You were traded and then cut in September. All this time that you were a free agent and the season had already started, was the hardest and strangest period of your career?
“It was a very hard time for me in many aspects. A lot of things happened in a very short time and I haven’t experienced that before. When you have to deal with it for the first time, you just don’t know how and it was not easy. However, you can’t expect everything to be a walk in the park.
Thank God, I have experienced already a lot of good things in my career. As a professional athlete you have to go through this also. I had my own people around me who love me, support me and they were there for me. It was hard, but it also made me stronger. I learned a lot and I think that I am stronger and more prepared for the future”.
– You have two months in order to persuade the Nuggets to keep you until the end of the season. It’s not a lot of time for a player who has been out of action for so many months. Is it the biggest challenge in your career?
“It’s a great challenge. The best players in the history of the sport are those who were ready to deliver, no matter the challenge. I will fight in order to get what I deserve. There’s no other way to do it. Denver is giving me a chance to get back on my feet and I have to do it. I was working alone in Thesaloniki, Greece, all this time and I want to thank my coach, Dimitris Kiriakoy, and my trainer, Giorgos Vitkas.
They helped me a lot. We did everything we had to in order for me to be in the best possible shape. Of course, I have to get games under my belt in order to get better. I am only a few days in Denver, but all my teammates are helping me and make me feel at home. A lot of them are veterans and that really helps. Still, I need a lot of work in order to get where I want me to be”.
– With the exception of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Greek players are not sticking around for long in the NBA. Do you think that you can change this perception?
“I believe that you have to want it more than anything else. You are right, there’s a perception about Greek players in the States that they will not fight to stay in the NBA. However, every person is different. It would have been easy for me after being waived to take an offer from Europe. However, this was not what I wanted. I have said many times that I didn’t want just to try the NBA and then return to Europe. I am here to stay. I don’t have anything to prove, nothing was given to me and this is my challenge. This is my personal battle. I want to do my job and play basketball.
The option of returning to Europe was something I started to examine during the last days before I signed with Denver, because you never know how things may turn out to be. My relationship with Olympiacos organization remains great. This is well known. I also want to thank the fans of Olympiacos for the love they gave me via the social media. It was important for me. However, my only concern at the moment is the new page in my career that started in Denver”.