Poulakidas Scores 16 as Mavericks Fall to Pelicans in Preseason

By Taki Panos

Four makes from deep will quiet a lot of noise in a hurry. Greek-American guard John Poulakidas scored 16 points off the bench as the Dallas Mavericks fell 101-97 to the New Orleans Pelicans in NBA preseason action Wednesday night at American Airlines Center, per the official NBA.com box score. He went 5-of-9 from the field, 4-of-8 from three and 2-of-3 at the line in 25 minutes and 33 seconds, with three rebounds and a block. Dallas dropped to 1-2 in the exhibition slate.

If the name is new to you, Poulakidas is the 6-foot-6 shooting guard out of Yale who signed a two-way deal with Dallas in March 2026 after going undrafted in 2025, as his Wikipedia page and NBA.com profile note. Both of his parents are Greek, with family roots that run through Sparta, Chios and the Peloponnese. For Greek fans who track diaspora players in the NBA the same way they track Giannis Antetokounmpo's early Heat nights, nights like this are the whole point of October.

Gazzetta framed the night as a strong showing despite the loss, highlighting the same 16 points, 4-of-8 from three, three rebounds and one block in 25:33. WhyNBA also posted Dallas' official highlight reel of the Greek-American's threes and cuts, calling out the 16-point line in a one-possession finish. Two continents, one box score. The shot was real.

Context mattered before tip-off. Kyrie Irving and Cooper Flagg were resting, and Dallas was short several other bodies after an 18-hour flight home from the NBA China Games in Macao, Dallas Sports Journal reported. Coach Dusty May said afterward that the veterans looked a step slow after the trip, while he was proud of how the young players competed. The Mavericks still won the glass 48-40 on that report, but they gave the game away with turnovers.

Turnovers told the story of the loss. Dallas committed 27 giveaways and New Orleans finished with 14 steals, per Dallas Sports Journal. The Pelicans led by as many as 14, then held off a fourth-quarter push after Dallas outscored them 34-26 in the final period. May blamed illegal screens, thin offensive variety and New Orleans' physicality for speeding Dallas into bad drives. Fair diagnosis for a preseason night with half the roster missing.

Poulakidas and fellow two-way forward Tobi Lawal each scored 16 to lead Dallas, as Dallas Sports Journal detailed. Lawal went 4-of-6 and a perfect 8-of-8 from the line before fouling out. May's praise for Poulakidas centered less on the shot chart and more on the grit: he liked how the guard mixed it up on the glass, came up with loose balls late and played with physicality. "To be honest with the shots, he's 4-for-8 from three. I thought his teammates found him," May said, according to Dallas Sports Journal. "But I was most pleased with him sticking his nose in and playing with some physicality and some grit."

That is the kind of coach speak young wings on two-way deals live for. Open threes are nice. Extra possessions in the second half are how you keep getting minutes when the veterans come back. May added that three or four times after halftime it felt like Poulakidas was in the mix and Dallas got extra possessions because of that fight, per the same report. For a shooter still proving he belongs on an NBA floor every night, that is the second job description.

Poulakidas himself pointed at youth and composure when asked about the turnover battle. "I think just continuing to stay composed. I think sometimes when you get a couple bad turnovers, you might tighten up a little bit," he said, as Dallas Sports Journal quoted him. He also credited resiliency after the China trip: an 18-hour flight, a 12- or 13-hour time difference, and a group of young players still hungry for every look. "I'm proud of the guys and how we fought back tonight. Just goes back to, like I said, our resiliency." No invented drama. Just a one-possession game after a long haul.

The wider Greek basketball week already had plenty of juice. NBA general managers just named Olympiacos forward Sasha Vezenkov the best international player outside the league at 77 percent, as we covered, while Giannis keeps stacking Heat preseason minutes. Poulakidas' night is a different chapter: not a EuroLeague star looking in from Athens, but a Greek-American guard fighting for a real role inside an NBA locker room. Both stories matter to the same audience.

Summer League buzz had already put him on fantasy radars. CBS Sports noted his 19-point Summer League night in July and projected him to spend most of 2026-27 with the Texas Legends on the two-way path, with Dallas minutes if injuries open the door. Preseason lines like Wednesday's are how that projection gets rewritten, one open three at a time. Nobody should crown a rotation spot off one exhibition. Nobody should ignore 4-of-8 from deep in 25 minutes either.

My take: this is exactly the kind of night Greek fans should bookmark. Not a blowout highlight reel, not empty stats in a garbage-time loss, but a competitive preseason game where a Greek-American guard helped keep Dallas within a possession after a brutal travel schedule. May saw the threes and still talked first about the glass and the grit. That is how a two-way player climbs. Keep making those shots. Keep sticking your nose in. The rest tends to follow.

Dallas closes the preseason Friday against the Atlanta Hawks at American Airlines Center, then opens the regular season Oct. 21 at Houston, per Dallas Sports Journal. For more on Greek and Greek-heritage athletes in the NBA and beyond, keep an eye on our Greek Sports section. One more preseason night. Plenty left to prove.

Sources: NBA.com, Dallas Sports Journal, Gazzetta, WhyNBA, CBS Sports, Wikipedia.

Image: John Poulakidas with Yale in March 2025, by Kenneth C. Zirkel, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).