Canadian guard Kevin Pangos will finally get his opportunity to prove he belongs in the NBA.
The 28-year old guard from Holland Landing, Ontario has inked a two-year, $3.5 million deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The first year salary of $1.67 million is fully guaranteed. Second season is fully non-guaranteed, becoming fully guaranteed on on the league-wide date of January 10, 2023.
Pangos is coming off his best international season of his career, leading Zenit St. Petersburg to one of the best seasons in club history. For his efforts, Pangos earned All-EuroLeague first-team honors after averaging 13.5 points and 6.6 assists in 29 minutes, connecting on 52.2% shooting from the field, 39% from three-pointers and 88.7% from the charity stripe.
A 2015 All-American third-team guard out of Gonzaga, Pangos played four years in Spokane, starting 141 out 142 career games. The six-foot-guard won the 2015 West Coast Conference (WCC) Player of the year award — he also played along side Canadian’s Kelly Olynyk, Kyle Wiltjer and Robert Sacre.
Since going undrafted, Pangos has carved his own niche in Europe, playing in Spain (Gran Canaria, Barcelona), Lithuania (Zalgiris) and Russia (Zenit St. Petersburg).
Pangos had three cracks at the NBA summer league from (2016-2018) playing 14 games with the Dallas Mavericks, Atlanta Hawks and the Washington Wizards.
Pangos turned down some big money for the opportunity to finally showcase his talent against the best players in the world. Top international suitors, including Zenit and Pangos’ former team Barcelona.
