The Erie BayHawks will almost certainly not see him in 2012-13, but Kostas Papanikolaou looks like he has some talent.

The New York Knicks, Erie’s hybrid affiliate, drafted Papanikolaou in the second round of the 2012 NBA Draft on Thursday night.

Since he’s under contract for two more years overseas, Papanikolaou isn’t expected to play for the Knicks in 2012-13, meaning he won’t be available for the BayHawks.

This season, NBA teams can send down 1st through 3rd-year players as many times as they want to their NBA affiliates. In the past, they could only send 1st and 2nd-year players down up to three times a season.

Going to need some practice spelling this guy’s name.

The New York Knicks picked Kostas Papanikolaou with the 48th overall pick in tonight’s NBA Draft. The Knicks, who are the hybrid affiliate of the Erie BayHawks, had just one pick in this year’s draft.

There are more questions about him than answers just based on the fact he played overseas. However, Papanikolaou played for Olympiakos in Greece so he’s seen great competition.

He’s 6-8, a lefty, considered to be aggressive, which is a plus for an international player, and is versatile. In the Euroleague Championship game, he had 18 points (3-of-3 from 3-point range) in leading Olympiakos back from 18 points down to win, 62-61.

Papanikolaou has two years left on his contract overseas, which means he’ll likely not play for the Knicks this season. So it’s doubtful he’ll see any action for the BayHawks because he likely won’t be with the Knicks for the 2012-13 season.

That will give me time to practice spelling his name.