By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
The Sacramento Kings seem to be quite excited about the signing of EuroLeague MVP Sasha Vezenkov. They had scouted him thoroughly before successfully tempting him to come over and leave Olympiacos Piraeus and know what kind of player they are getting.
While Kings fans who aren’t aware of who Vezenkov is may have a lot of questions about him- reasonably so if they don’t follow EuroLeague action – Sacramento general manager believes that the Bulgarian forward will provide more than convincing answers on the floor and even surprise people.
Here’s what he said in an interview with The Athletic about Vezenkov and international players in general:
“A lot of people hear ‘international’ and they don’t know them, and then they come over and all of a sudden it’s (Nikola) Mirotic or it’s the Bogdanovics (Bogdan and Bojan) or (Nemanja) Bjelica,” McNair said. “Or you can obviously go back to the Pejas and Turkoglus (former Kings Peja Stojakovic and Hedo Turkoglu). And once they’re over here, then people get excited about them. But I think people will be surprised, just because they don’t know him very well and what he can do.”
The Kings officially signed Vezenkov Tuesday (18/7). Per several reports, it’s a three-year, $20 million-dollar contract that includes a team option for 2025-26.
At 27 years of age, Vezenkov makes the jump to the NBA after establishing himself as one of he elite players outside the league over the last couple of years. He made the All-Euroleague First Team in 2021-22 and 2022-23 while winning MVP and Top Scorer honors in the competition last season.