Kings fans have heard it all since the team selected Greek big man Georgios Papagiannis with the 13th pick of this year’s draft. On the one hand, Big Papa’s selection is evident of a myopic Vlade Divac draft strategy, one infatuated with a big man who does not clearly complement the team’s best player. On the other hand, it may be emblematic of a franchise building for the future, not tethered to the assumption that DeMarcus Cousins will remain long-term.
Admittedly, the latter perspective only matters if Papagiannis turns out to be a good NBA player. If he does not, the narrative on the 2016 draft will likely write itself around the Kings’ asset mismanagement during the DeMarcus Cousins era, a proverbial cherry on top of a Jimmer Fredette, Thomas Robinson, Ben McLemore and Nik Stauskas sundae (sorry for the visual).