Konstantin Kostadinov has already made major strides in his young career and the talent from Bulgaria now hopes he can help U18 Real Madrid to the title at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament Finals - and take another big step.
Real's Kostadinov has his eyes on ANGT glory
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Kostadinov was important in Real finishing first at the ANGT Istanbul when he collected 7.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game including 6 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists in the first-place game win over U18 Stellazzurra Rome.
"I was not at my best in scoring, but I think I helped the team in rebounding, in finding my open teammates and I did whatever I had to do to get the win," Kostadinov said.
"I did whatever I had to do to get the win."
The Istanbul tournament was Kostadinov’s second ANGT qualifying event as he helped Real finish first at the ANGT Munich in the 2019-20 season, averaging 13.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 2.0 steals. He came up big in the first-place game - also against Stellazzurra - with 23 points, 9 rebounds and 2 steals for an index rating of 22.
"One of the most important things that I learned from last year is being able to cope with pressure at the highest level. At the end, this is basketball. You need to have some fun if you want to play it," he said.
Basketball used to be really just fun for Kostadinov, who was born and raised in the Bulgarian city of Burgas on the Black Sea coast.
"I did not think that I could be good. I just was tall and my first coach really liked that because back then in my city when I was a little kid, there were not so many tall people. Therefore, when he met me it was a nice surprise for him," said Kostadinov of the city with about 200,000 people. "I started basketball with my friends, just for fun, just to do some physical activity and avoid staying at home all the time and watching TV. Then, when I started to play, I really liked it, because my height was an advantage and that was pretty good for me."
Despite Burgas being a small city, Kostadinov’s play was recognized by the country’s youth basketball leaders. He was named to the Bulgaria team for the FIBA U16 European Championship 2017 Division B - at just 14 years of age. He ended up playing at the competition the next two summers as well, helping Bulgaria finish sixth in 2019 - the country’s top performance since it returned to Division B in 2011.
"The main and the most important thing that I learned back then was you cannot enter the court with the mindset that things are going to be hard or the other way around either, that things are going to be easy," said Kostadinov, who averaged 14.6 points, 10.5 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.6 blocks in 2019, when Bulgaria lost to the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.
"In my first U16 championship I was the youngest player, so I was aware of the fact that I had to do something about it. I knew I could never score 40 points in my first game, so I tried to help the team in some other aspects such as rebounding, passing, defending," he explained.
Before Kostadinov even took the stage for Bulgaria, he already had his eyes opened widely. In 2016, Real Madrid came calling and brought the then 13-year-old youngster to Spain.
"It was a big surprise for me when I heard that Real Madrid was calling a kid from a small city in Bulgaria for tryouts. I never expected that," remembered Kostadinov, who went to the Spanish capital with his parents. "They helped me a lot through all that time because the first year was the hardest one. Without knowing the language, without knowing people here, everything is harder. However, my parents supported me a lot and thanks to them, my adjustment to Madrid and to the club was much easier."
Within the club, Kostadinov got to interact with many highly-regarded talents such as Usman Garuba, Mario Nakic, Amar Sylla and Juan Nunez. And just the experience of being around them helped Kostadinov in his development as well.
"You realize they are just kids like me and that we all experience similar situations. I learned that we all have ups and downs and that this is something normal," he said. "I also learned that the most important thing is not to pull back when things go wrong but keep fighting."
Kostadinov spent the 2020-21 season playing for Real Madrid’s second team in the EBA fourth league. In addition to the ANGT Istanbul, another highlight was making his Bulgarian senior national team debut in February 2021. He was on the bench when Bulgaria defeated Latvia to qualify for the FIBA EuroBasket for the first time since 2011.
“I was there, that was the most important thing. I was very happy getting there at my age," he said.
Kostadinov, who was still about a month shy of his 18th birthday, was allowed to play in Bulgaria’s other game in the national team window and he produced impressively. He drained 3 three-pointers in scoring 11 points to go with 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block in 21 minutes of a loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"The other players liked the threes. I missed the last dunk from an alley-oop, but they were pretty happy for me and my debut," he remembered.
Kostadinov is considered one of the biggest prospects in Bulgarian basketball, but he’s not worrying too much about that: "I am still young, I still have to work a lot in order to achieve what I want in basketball," he said.
"The most important thing is not to pull back when things go wrong but keep fighting."
The next goal comes in Valencia, where Real Madrid will be shooting for its third ANGT title following 2015 and 2019. Kostadinov and a number of his teammates from this year’s team were on last year’s squad that won the Munich qualifier and was ready to become the first team to repeat as ANGT champs since U18 FMP Belgrade in 2009. Real could also pull even with U18 CSKA Moscow for the most ANGT trophies; the Russian powerhouse won three straight crowns in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
"We are ready for that huge challenge. Last year we could not play because of the pandemic, so this year is the important one," Kostadinov said. "The team must play basketball, pass the ball, find the open teammate and shoot the easy shot. This tournament is important for all of us and the club, so we will do our best to try to win it."
That would be another major stride in his still-young career.