This week Sasha Vezenkov signed a one-year extension with Greek basketball club Olympicanos that lasts through the 2024-25 season.
For the Kings, they can still bring him on board down the line, it’s just going to be more expensive.
Along with a higher salary for the European forward, the NBA buyout will cost Sacramento over $1 million when that time comes.
There’s no reason to think it won’t. Vezenkov was close to coming to the NBA this season after the Kings acquired his rights ahead of June’s draft, and despite being 27 years-old, his stock is only rising.
Last season, Vezenkov was crowned the Greek League’s Most Valuable Player after averaging 14.9 points on 55.3% shooting from the field and 37.8% from three, 6.6. rebounds, 1.8 assists, and a steal per game.
At EuroBasket over the summer, the left-handed forward represented Bulgaria. Though the nation did not stick around too long in the competition, Vezenkov played tremendously. In 4 group phase contests, he averaged 26.8 points on 49.5% from the field and 40.0% from beyond the arc with 12.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists.
Better yet, through 15 games this season, Vezenkov is averaging 19.2 points on 59.6% shooting from the field and 44.9% from three-point range with 7.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.3 steals.
Even at his age, he continues to improve, taking on more of an offensive load and only executing with more efficiency.
During EuroBasket in early September, Mike Brown traveled to Europe for some of the action that featured Kings centers Domantas Sabonis and Alex Len. There he expressed his interest in coaching the Greek League MVP one day soon, and Vezenkov felt similarly.
The 6’9″ forward was asked about the prospect after a EuroBasket game.
“Next summer is just ten months away,” Vezenkov told reporters with a confident grin in September. “So I’ll just try to stay healthy and we’ll see.”
With six months until the summer, that mutual interest still holds—if it hasn’t grown stronger—and the hype around Sasha Vezenkov continues to mount, but because of that, the necessary buy out will just be more costly when that time comes.
[…] after signing an extension within the last year, the probability that he joins the Kings appears to be high, though nobody […]
Seems like a solid player, would be nice to have in case Barnes, Lyles or Metu don’t return. Shouldn’t take that big of a contract to sign him.