By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
The current contract of Kostas Papanikolaou with Olympiacos ends next summer. Three NBA teams, Atlanta, Milwaukee and New Orleans, tried to get him, but finally the Rockets, which hold his NBA rights decided not to part ways with him.
And now starts the really interesting part. As Spanish magazine “Gigantes” reported in its website on Tuesday night, Barcelona is trying to get the player, despite the fact that his contract has a one million dollars NBA only buy out clause. The deadline for this clause expired on Monday (15/7), it can’t be used by a European team and according to multiple Greek reports, the Catalans are offering 1,5 million euros to Olympiacos in order to get the player.
The back to back Euroleague champions don’t want to let their player become a free agent next summer, they probably though about selling him to the highest bidder, but on the other hand they are not eager to lose their starting small forward as the team embarks in a historical Euroleague “three peat” quest. The solution they chose was to offer a contract extension to the player, who wants to play in the NBA and was ready to try his luck on the other side of the Atlantic even this summer. The specifics of the offer are not yet known.
It’s obvious that if Papanikolaou doesn’t accept the extension – which will probably include a similar NBA buy out – then Olympiacos will examine the possibility of selling him, or else the Greek club will probably lose him for nothing next summer. Papanikolaou’s salary for the upcoming season is 500.000 euros after taxes and despite some reports, there is no ultimatum from Barcelona to Olympiacos for an answer during the next hours.