11 Players the Kings never should have gambled on
By Tyler Watts
3. Georgios Papagiannis
Nobody expected Papagiannis to be a lottery pick in 2016. The 7’1 big man out of Greece had played professionally for four years, but his run was limited. He averaged just 10.5 minutes per game over 28 contests for Panathinaikos the season before he was selected. Most thought he would be taken in the second round, but not 13th overall.
The Kings traded the eighth overall pick with Domantas Sabonis still on the board for 13, 28, and Bogdan Bogdanovic. General manager Vlade Divac saw something in Papagiannis to make him a lottery selection over Pascal Siakam, Dejounte Murray, Caris LeVert, Malik Beasley, Malcolm Brogdon, and Ivica Zubac. It is still unclear what that was, but he was quickly proven wrong.
The 7’1 big man last 38 games with the Kings where he averaged 4.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 0.6 blocks in 12.4 minutes per contest over parts of two seasons. Sacramento waived him at the 2018 trade deadline. Big men need to guard on the perimeter in the modern NBA, and Papagiannis was never going to be able to. He was out of the league by the end of the 2018 season and has not returned.
The Sacramento Kings got 473 total minutes from the 13th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. That is shockingly bad and deserves a place on this list because there was zero reason to gamble on him, especially that high. Georgios Papagiannis would have been available at the 28th pick, but the Kings took a risk that backfired mightily.