By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
There can never be enough Greeks on the Milwaukee Bucks apparently. The new NBA champions have selected swingman Georgios Kalaitzakis with the 60th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.
Kalaitzakis has had stints in Europe with Panathinaikos and the Lithuanian side Nevezis.
The Bucks went European on another second-round pick: Georgian forward Sandro Mamukelashvili of Seton Hall, who was selected 54th overall.
Per Bucks:
The Milwaukee Bucks have acquired the draft rights to Sandro Mamukelashvili and Georgios Kalaitzakis, who were selected by the Indiana Pacers with the 54th and 60th overall picks in the 2021 NBA Draft, in exchange for the draft rights to Isaiah Todd, who was selected by the Bucks with the 31st overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. The Bucks also receive two future second round draft picks to complete the trade.
Mamukelashvili (ma-MOO-kell-osh-VEE-lee), a 6-11, 240-pound forward from Seton Hall, was named the 2020-21 co-Big East Player of the Year, earned First Team All-Big East honors and was named an AP All-America Honorable Mention after averaging 17.5 points (2nd in Big East), 7.6 rebounds (5th in Big East) and 3.2 assists (12th in Big East) per game as a senior last season. The Republic of Georgia native was also a top-five finalist for the 2020-21 Karl Malone Award, which honors the top power forward in college basketball, and was one of only two players in the Big East to rank inside the top-five in scoring and rebounding.
In four seasons with the Pirates, Mamukelashvili, 22, appeared in 115 games and improved his scoring average by 14.9 points from his freshman season (2.6 ppg) to his senior campaign (17.5 ppg), in addition to shooting 45.9% from the field throughout his collegiate career.
Kalaitzakis (call-ite-zahk-iss), a 6-7, 205-pound forward from Greece, spent the 2020-21 season with Panathinaikos of the Greek Basket League where he averaged 2.6 points and 1.0 rebound in 8.2 minutes per game across 27 games (6 starts) in both Greek Basket League and EuroLeague action. The 22-year-old began his professional career in 2016 and has since played in parts of four seasons with Panathinaikos in addition to one season with Kedainiai Nevezis of the Lithuanian Basketball League.