Kosta Koufos can be considered a journeyman in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Greek-American player, who found a way to stay relevant in the league even though he had to play for a different team almost every year, had a rather challenging childhood. He lost his father, who was an oncologist, to a rare form of cancer and had to grow up without a father figure.
On the current list of the Sacramento Kings, the private life of the basketball player should be a topic of interest to anyone who wants to learn about the star. Here you can learn all about it.
Kosta Koufos Bio
Kosta Koufos was born in the United States, but he is of Greek origin. His full name is Konstantine Demetrios Koufos and he was born on February 24, 1989, in Canton, Ohio. As mentioned above, Koufos is a Greek-American, as his parents emigrated from Greece to the United States before he was born.
His mother, Katerina Koufos, who worked in the educational sector, is his only surviving parent; his father, Dr. Alex Koufos, was a pediatric hematologist/oncologist and worked with hospitals helping children suffering from all forms of cancer until he was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) in November 1996.
After fighting the disease for almost two years, he finally succumbed to it on April 26, 1998, when Kosta was only nine years old. As the youngest child, the family also includes his two older siblings – a sister, Maria, and a brother, Vasilios.
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The high school for Kosta Koufos was GlenOak High School in Canton, Ohio. His father’s death from cancer gave him the idea of pursuing a career in medicine to continue his father’s legacy, but when he saw how often work kept his father away from home, he reconsidered. He clung to basketball and played as a center for the Golden Eagles basketball team – GlenOak High.
During his time on the team he was named Second Team All-State (in his junior season), First Team All-State, Player of the Year in Division I, First Team Northeast Inland All-District, and first runner-up for the Mr. Ohio Basketball Gong, among others. He also led the Golden Eagles to a winning streak of 9 wins on the trout, one of which ended the 41-game winning record of the Canton McKinley Bulldogs in his senior year.
After high school, recruitment websites went through the roof with 5-star rankings for Kosta Koufos, and despite several offers from the country’s leading basketball programs, he decided to stay home and continue his basketball career at Ohio State University.
The successor to Greg Oden (who went pro) in the middle position of the Ohio State Buckeyes, he led the team to the 2008 National Invitational Tournament (NIT) title, where he was named MVP of the tournament. He chose from his remaining three-year college qualification to qualify for the 2008 NBA Draft.
Career
Following his statement to participate in the 2008 NBA Draft, he received a lucrative offer from his home country in the form of a three-year contract with Olympiacos Piraeus, a basketball club playing in the Greek Basketball League. The contract had a tax-free value of 5 million euros, but he turned down the offer because he was targeting the NBA.
During his stay in the NBA, Kosta played in a number of top teams. In the draft, he was selected by Utah Jazz for the first time with the 23rd overall score. To get game time, he was sent to their partner team in the NBA Development League, Utah Flash, in 2009. He was called back after an injury to Mehmet Okur, who was the starting center of Utah Jazz. And after two years on the team, he was transferred to the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2010 and the following year to the Denver Nuggets.
His career with the Denver Nuggets got off to a good start when he scored his first double (10 points and 11 boards in 24 minutes) with the team in a game against the Sacramento Kings on January 4, 2012. Later that month he was scheduled to sign a three-year $9 million contract extension. Overall, Kosta had an average of 6.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game with the nuggets.
In 2013, he switched again, this time to the Memphis Grizzlies, where he played for two seasons averaging 5.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game before docking with the Sacramento Kings on July 13, 2015. There have not been so many complaints about his playing level, and although Kosta Koufos is not a star in the game, he gives the team stability, and the fans know they can always rely on him to hold the line whenever he enters the court.
Who Is Kosta Koufos’ Wife Or Girlfriend?
Kosta Koufos’ private life is quite a mystery when it comes to his relationships. He has only been associated with two women, but wait, that wouldn’t be a mystery, would it? The mystery is the fact that he seems to have been married to both of them, and yet there is no record of a divorce from either of them.
Let us explain. According to reports, Kosta Koufos was married to former Miss Utah candidate Leia Sergakis, who is also of Greek descent. They seem to have met in 2013 and had a relationship that led to their marriage, but the details of their wedding are nowhere to be found.
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However, cbssports.com published an interview with NBA star Kosta Koufos on March 17, 2015, in which he talked about his excitement about his upcoming marriage to Leia Sergakis. Whether or not the wedding took place cannot be proven beyond the fact that some websites refer to them as men and women.
The wedding that can be proven (since she received media coverage, especially when they donated all their wedding gifts to the Akron Children’s Hospital in honor of Kosta’s late father) is the one with the second woman he was associated with – Eleni Bourlas. Again, there are no details of how they met, other than the fact that they grew up in the same community in Canton, Ohio. They married on September 1, 2018, in the community of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity in Canton.
From the foregoing, it can be assumed that his relationship with Leia Sergakis never made it to the altar and that they were never married, despite hints to the contrary from some media.
Body Stats – Height, Weight
Kosta Koufos will be one of the biggest basketball players in the league. His height was measured at 7 feet 0 inches, which is a metric estimate of 2.13. To give him a fine balance and mobility, his high frame is supported by a weight of 120 kg (265 lb).
