Euroleague MVP Sasha Vezenkov acknowledges Kings’ interest in signing him: ‘They are a very good team’
By
Antonio Kozlow
Antonio KozlowSports Editor
Antonio is a life long sports enthusiast and professional journalist, who shares an obssesive urge to find and dig up the most interesting facts to guide gamblers towards more exciting, yet safe bets. In his own words, ''you can never really know enough about the things you love''.
Olympiacos star player Sasha Vezenkov has just been honored with the EuroLeague MVP award, as his team recently arrived at Kaunas, Lithuania for this Friday’s first game of the competition’s Final Four stage.
In spite of all this attention, the Bulgarian forward still found time to talk about the Kings. Even though the player didn’t go into details, he does acknowledge the fact that Sacramento are interested in him, but instead of addressing that directly, he talked about what an amazing season they just had in the NBA.
“They are a very good team and they had an impressive regular season”, Vezenkov said about the franchise that owns his NBA rights.
Vezenkov witnessed how the NBA squad returned to the playoffs after 17 years, but unfortunately faced off with the reigning champions in the first round. “On the other hand, in the playoffs, they did their best, but they were facing a superstar like Steph Curry.
The competition in the NBA is really hard, there are so many superstars and ultimately only one gets the rings. However, the Kings had a great season,” he stated.
Now that the Bulgarian star is about to confront the semifinals of the Euroleague, he was asked about what were his thoughts on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s views on failure.
“I agree with Giannis, you can say that there’s no failure in sports if you try,” he said. “However, on the other hand, failure is not part of our vision as a team. So I would say that we have already achieved a lot of small goals this season, our season is already a success, but now that we are in the Final Four, we want an even bigger success”.
Coach Mike Brown considers it a priority to sign Vezenkov but insists they must be patient
Olympiacos’ last match in Greece against Turkey’s Fenerbahce was witnessed by Sacramento’s head coach Mike Brown.
“I like what I see, he leaves room for his teammates, he cuts well, he shoots well from three, he has toughness, he fights for rebounds,” the NBA Coach of the Year said of Vezenkov last week.
“The way he shoots from the three-point range is something we like, he handles the space very well, he’s quick, he’ll be an effective player in the NBA at a high level, especially with the toughness he shows,” Brown said about his potential. “He’s fearless and I love that.”
“We want the season to end first, and then we will talk to him. We are extremely excited about him, we made a trade to acquire his rights in the summer. It’s important that so many people from the team have come to see him in person, there is also the CEO of the Kings here and the European scout,” Brown explained.
“For us, it’s a priority, but we will see at the end of the season.”
Now the Bulgarian foward is now concentrated on the EuroLeague’s next stage in Kaunas, which will happen from May 19 to May 21. The Reds are preparing to face Mike James’ AS Monaco in the first semifinal this Friday (5pm CEST).
