The Denver Nuggets accomplished a huge goal of theirs when they were able to trade Ty Lawson to the Houston Rockets. In return for Lawson the Nuggets received four different players and it was unknown at the time whether they would hang on to these players or release them. Pablo Prigioni has already been waived and has since signed with the Los Angeles Clippers. Another player that was rumored to be waived next was Kostas Papanikolaou but now he reportedly will not be waived according to Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post.
While it is still possible that Papanikolaou will be waived in the future the Nuggets reportedly have no plans to do so now and it appears he will be in training camp with the team. This news comes a couple of days after David Pick of Eurobasket.com reported that the Nuggets would waive the Greek forward.
Papanikolaou is due to make $4.7 million this upcoming season but his salary is non-guaranteed so the Nuggets would be able to cut him without any monetary repercussions. If he were to be cut the Nuggets would then be about $7 million below the cap and would have more maneuverability. Right now though the Nuggets feel as though keeping Papanikolaou is the better play than having more cap room as the 6 foot-8 forward is an intriguing prospect in NBA circles.
Papanikolaou is 25 years old and played in 43 games for the Rockets last season as a rookie. He averaged 4.2 points and 2.7 rebounds in 18.5 minutes per game while shooting just 35 percent from the field and 29 percent from three. While his numbers as a rookie were poor Papanikolaou did show some flashes of being a useful and versatile option in the NBA.
If he is kept, like is being reported, Papanikolaou will be competing for backup minutes at power forward with J.J. Hickson and Joffrey Lauvergne behind the presumed starter Danilo Gallinari. The Nuggets are expected to be a bottom feeder in the Western Conference so they will likely be giving minutes to young guys like Papanikolaou to see if he is part of their future.
