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Did the Charlotte Hornets give Kostas Antetokounmpo a draft promise?

By Jerry Stephens

KINGSTON, RI - FEBRUARY 23: Dayton Flyers forward Kostas Antetokounmpo (13) drives to the basket during a college basketball game between Dayton Flyers and Rhode Island Rams on February 23, 2018, at the Ryan Center in Kingston, RI. Rhode Island defeated Dayton 81-56 and wins the Atlantic 10 regular season title. (Photo by M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
KINGSTON, RI - FEBRUARY 23: Dayton Flyers forward Kostas Antetokounmpo (13) drives to the basket during a college basketball game between Dayton Flyers and Rhode Island Rams on February 23, 2018, at the Ryan Center in Kingston, RI. Rhode Island defeated Dayton 81-56 and wins the Atlantic 10 regular season title. (Photo by M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Greek Freak’s younger brother may have received a draft promise from the Charlotte Hornets.

It looks like the Charlotte Hornets may have given Kostas Antetokounmpo a second-round draft promise. Johnathan Givony of ESPN tweeted that the Greek forward has decided to keep his name in the 2018 NBA Draft and “has mysteriously elected to cancel all of his remaining scheduled private NBA workouts.” Rumors have already started to swirl around the situation.

NBADraftGod speculated that the Charlotte Hornets gave Antetokounmpo a draft promise in the second-round. Kostas has only worked out for four NBA teams with one of them being the Hornets. The others include the Los Angeles Lakers, the Memphis Grizzlies and the Toronto Raptors.

Considering that he was projected to be either a late second-round pick or go undrafted this year, you’d have to think that Antetokounmpo received a promise from a team which made him decide to stay in the draft rather than return to school where he could’ve improved his draft stock for 2019.

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Charlotte currently holds the 55th overall pick in the second-round of this year’s NBA Draft. Their lone second-round selection comes near the tail end of the draft. As for the other teams that worked out the 20-year old, the Lakers have the No. 47 pick, the Grizzlies have the N0. 32 pick and the Raptors don’t have a second-round pick.

It’s worth noting that Antetokounmpo suffered a groin injury during his workout with Charlotte. Although, Rick Bonnell reported that the injury wasn’t considered serious so it’s unlikely that this is the reason why he pulled out of his scheduled workouts.

Kostas is the younger brother of Milwaukee Bucks‘ star Giannis Antetokounmpo and former New York Knicks‘ draftee Thanasis Antetokounmpo. He played only one year at the University of Dayton where he put 5.2 points per game, 2.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks while shooting 57.4% from the field, 13.3% from three and 51.6% from the free throw line in 15.1 minutes. He started in six of the 29 games that he appeared in for the Flyers.

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It’s unclear who exactly gave Kostas Antetokounmpo the promise or if he even received a promise at all. Hopefully, more news will become available and from a reliable source as the draft draws near. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Charlotte Hornets gave the intriguing prospect a promise with their second-round pick.