Observing Lefteris Manzoukas in a Greek League Basketball Game

June 3rd, 2025

By Alan Lu

This time around, I took the time to watch Maroussi BC’s 6-9 forward, Lefteris “Lefty” Mantzoukas, a skilled sharpshooter that is currently slated to play at Oklahoma State next year.  He is a sharpshooting forward that has excelled in some of the toughest professional leagues from around the world, so I wanted to take another look to assess his skills.  I was able to watch him play in a November 2nd game against PAOK, as I was able to see this with thanks to YouTube via EPT A.E.  Here are my thoughts on how he fared, as well as how his game may translate to the NBA.

Lefteris Mantzoukas had a solid showing in his team’s tough loss to PAOK.  He can score the basketball in a variety of ways, and he also rebounded and defended fairly well when he was on the court.

Mantzoukas didn’t take many shots, but he was able to make a quick open corner three off the catch to showcase his shooting skills.  He also managed to score on a drop step move out of the post in traffic.  He would’ve scored on a quick put back, but it didn’t count as time expired before he was able to get his shot off.  On the downside, despite showing some solid footwork, he had some trouble scoring consistently out of the post, as he would sometimes miss shots when taking it to the basket.

He also showcased adequate playmaking skills.  Mantzoukas is an unselfish player that can pass and handle the basketball, and he generally did a good job of moving off the ball to get it and making passes to find the open man.  He also was able to set a screen to help his teammate get an open driving lane to set up a scoring chance for him.  On the downside, he had some trouble protecting the basketball, especially when pressured, and there was another time where he threw an inaccurate pass that sailed out of bounds.

Also, Mantzoukas did a decent job of rebounding the basketball, and he was able to push the pace off of a defensive board once.  He also played satisfactory defense in this game.  Mantzoukas is a better athlete than advertised, and he can stay in front of his man when defending off the dribble, as he was able to block a shot out of bounds and poke a ball away to get a steal, due to possessing a solid blend of length, positioning, and timing.  He also would rotate to contest outside shots to force misses.  Sometimes though, he would have lapses and lose track of his man, as he would be prone to allowing them to get open on the move to get shots off, which would sometimes lead their team to give up baskets.

Overall, Lefteris Mantzoukas is an agile, skilled sharpshooting forward that has played well in his role overseas in professional basketball, and assuming that he will play at Oklahoma State, Mantzoukas is projected to be a second round prospect for the 2026 draft .  He projects into a shooting specialist role at the NBA level, and in a favorable scenario, Mantzoukas could end up developing into an effective role player similar to Miami Heat’s forward, Duncan Robinson in the NBA.

All in all, those are my thoughts on how Mantzoukas fared in this game.  Thanks for reading.