Kings target and EuroLeague MVP Sasha Vezenkov suffers knee injury in Greek League Finals
Newly crowned EuroLeague MVP and Sacramento Kings offseason target Sasha Vezenkov went down with a knee injury Thursday in the Greek League Finals in Athens, Greece.
The Olympiacos star injured his right knee in a 67-65 loss in Game 2 of his team’s best-of-seven series against Panathinaikos. He collapsed under the basket after sustaining the injury while battling for an offensive rebound in the third quarter.
Medical tests following the game showed Vezenkov avoided serious injury. The team announced he had suffered a swollen bone on the posterior surface of the medial tibial condyle of his right knee, raising doubts about his status for Game 3.
The Kings acquired the draft rights to Vezenkov in a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers last summer. They have sent a number of representatives from the organization overseas to watch Vezenkov, including head coach Mike Brown, who said he believes the 6-foot-9, 225-pound forward would fit “really good” with the NBA’s top-rated offense.
Under rules of the collective bargaining agreement, the Kings can’t sign Vezenkov until after the June NBA draft, but they have made their intentions clear. Money could become an issue based on recent reports out of Europe suggesting Vezenkov could be seeking $10 million per year, but anything over $4 million would represent a substantial pay raise for the two-time Greek League MVP.
Vezenkov has averaged 17.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 29 minutes per game for Olympiacos. He is shooting 65.5% on two-point attempts and 37.8% from 3-point range.
“I tell you what, the way he shoots the ball, we like to get up a lot of 3s,” Brown told European media during a EuroLeague playoff win over Fenerbahce. “We space the floor, in my opinion, really, really well. We play extremely fast, and so I think he can be a really effective player in the NBA at a high level, especially with his toughness. He’s not afraid at all and I love that about him.”
Brown believes Vezenkov’s game will translate well to the NBA.
“At the end of the day, basketball is basketball,” Brown said. “I really like Olympiacos, the ball movement, the player movement. It’s beautiful basketball to watch. Everybody touches it. Everybody shares it. And then, defensively, both teams have a physicality about them that you really, really like, especially in a playoff environment.”
Brown added: “We’ve obviously been highly, highly intrigued with him. We made a trade to get his rights last year. This is the fourth or fifth time somebody from our organization has come over … so, for us, the interest is at a high level, but we’ll let him finish the season and then he’ll make decisions as well as us when it’s time.”
