Loukas Mavrokefalidis

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Loukas Mavrokefalidis (Greek: Λουκάς Μαυροκεφαλίδης; born July 25, 1984 in Geseni, Czechoslovakia) is a Greek professional basketball player who was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2nd round (57th overall) of the 2006 NBA Draft. A 6'11" center, Mavrokefalidis played for PAOK in Greece during the 2005-06 season, averaging 15.6 points and 7.8 rebounds. He is currently under contract with Pallacanestro Virtus Roma in Italy.

Mavrokefalidis started his professional career at PAOK, moving to Thessaloniki from Kilkis, where his parents come from. From the first days of his professional career, PAOK coach B. Preljevic took advantage of his height and decided to play him at the center position which, as it was proved later in his career, fitted him very well.

After many months of hard work, Mavrokefalidis was almost always a member of the starting 5 in PAOK, creating havoc to the opposition's defence with his ability to get to the rim and make easy buckets or exciting dunks. He also became a defensive force, chasing down rebounds relentlessly, something that can be shown by the 7.8 rebounds he averaged during the 2005-06 season.

Mavrokefalidis's talents didn't go unnoticed. That's why he was selected for the first time in 2003 to join the Greece U-21 National Basketball Team during the U-21 European Basketball Championship. In 2005, Mavrokefalidis's contribution during the U-21 European Basketball Championship was very significant, as Mavrokefalidis greatly help the U-21 Greek National Basketball Team win the silver medal, after losing to Lithuania by just one point.

A year later, in 2006, Greek national basketball team coach Panagiotis Giannakis became impressed by the young center's abilities and called him to participate in the Greece training camp, one month before the 2006 World Basketball Championship took place in Japan. However, as he was already selected in the draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, Mavrokefalidis informed the coach shortly before the outset of the World Championship that he decided to go back to Minnesota and participate in performance improvement training camps, thus losing the 12th man's place to Sofoklis Schortsianitis.

During the summer of 2006, Mavrokefalidis was signed by Roma, but hasn't been established as a key member of the team, averaging just 2 points and a rebound per game.

However, in February 2007 he goes to play to Spain in Pamesa Valencia. Roma changes him for two players Roberto Chiacig and Jon Steffanson.