The Bulls have waived forward Kostas Antetokounmpo, who was on a two-way deal, and signed guard Carlik Jones to fill their two-way opening, the team announced.
Jones, who turns 25 next week, was a rookie last season after going undrafted out of Louisville. He appeared in five NBA games in 2021-22 on 10-day hardship deals with the Mavericks and Nuggets, but spent most of his rookie year playing with the Texas Legends, the Mavs’ G League affiliate.
Jones played for the Bulls’ Summer League team in 2022 and was later signed to an Exhibit 10 deal, but was waived before the season started. He’s spent all of this season with Chicago’s G League affiliate, the Windy City Bulls, averaging 20.9 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 7.6 APG and 1.2 SPG on .529/.431/.667 shooting through 14 games (34.4 MPG).
The second-year guard was on our list of five G League players making bids for NBA call-ups due to their strong performances, and now that has come to fruition.
Although he has appeared in NBA games in three separate seasons, Antetokounmpo has never played a regular rotation role during previous stops with the Mavericks and Lakers from 2018-21. The 25-year-old has logged just 87 total minutes in 22 games, putting up 21 points and 23 rebounds during his limited action.
Antetokounmpo, who spent last season with French club ASVEL, originally signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Bulls this fall, but had it converted to a two-way deal before the season started. He didn’t appear in any NBA games, having spent the whole season with Windy City while averaging 11.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.3 blocks on .670/.200/.500 shooting in 12 games (28.9 MPG).
According to a report from Eurohoops.net, at least three EuroLeague teams are interested in Antetokounmpo’s services, including Greece’s Panathinaikos, Turkey’s Fenerbahce and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv. Antetokounmpo is the younger brother of two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.
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