Vezenkov is everywhere

Sasha Vezenkov was born 27 years ago in Nicosia, Cyprus. He has been a Greek national since his formative years in Thessaloniki. He plays for the national team of Bulgaria, the country of his parents. He spent three seasons in Spain, wearing the Barça shirt. And he also works speaking in English. The salad turns every appearance of the Olympiacos power forward into an improvised language school. The man responds in one language or another with the same versatility with which he moves on the track. Its 2.06 meters appear everywhere. He has a wrist to hurt in the outside game and at mid-distance, body to crash under the hoop, score from two and rebound, vision to weave the game and legs to dizzy the defender. Tavares, who will be seen this Sunday in the area with him and Moustapha Fall, is alerted: "It does not stop. He moves all the time looking for space to shoot, scores from outside, allies with Sloukas, goes for the rebound... He is a player who knows very well how to play and they also move from memory. It's going to be hard to stop him." The Bulgarian returns the praise to the Real Madrid player: "He is super dominant. He has played very well all season but the last month is something special. It's the main reason Madrid are here, but it's not just him. We don't just have to focus on Tavares."

In an Olympiacos that shakes Sloukas and ignites Papanikolaou, Vezenkov is the heavy artillery. The leading scorer of the regular season in the Euroleague (17.2 points on average adorned with 6.8 rebounds per night) succeeded Mirotic as the most valuable player of the championship, MVP, an award he received this past Thursday from his parents and his sister, whom he pointed out as his example. The next day he showed gallons in the comeback against Monaco with 19 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Historic 3rd quarter performance last night 🔴 ⚪️@Olympiacos_BC pic.twitter.com/1SaIwYvbjO

— Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) May 20, 2023

Lorenzo Brown (Maccabi), Musa and Tavares (Madrid) and Lessort (Partizán) accompany him in the ideal quintet of the Euroleague. But that individual glory tastes little to Vezenkov, eager to conquer his first European crown. "The work I've done during the season has been reflected in the MVP. That's a prize for the regular phase and now I want the title. For me it doesn't change anything because basketball is a team sport. I am motivated by the award to improve and to show that this has not been just one year, but that I can be consistent in my performance. In sport the hardest thing is to keep up. I have to prove it to myself. This is just the beginning."

Vezenkov remembers those three courses at Barcelona (2015-18), after his time at Aris, in which he also carried the convulsion of a club that in that period passed through the hands of Xavi Pascual, Bartzokas and Sito Alonso on the bench. "There were bad moments," relives the Bulgarian, a friend of former footballer Hristo Stoichkov. "Those moments made me work harder, made me better, stronger, and made me the person and player I am now." He also left a scar the semifinal lost last year against Efes with a triple final of Micic when he defended him, and then gave in the duel for third place against Barça.

The past hardened him, the present has crowned him as the jewel of the Euroleague and in the future the option of the NBA appears. Vezenkov was selected 57th overall in the 2017 NBA Draft by the Brooklyn Nets, but his rights moved first to the Cleveland Cavaliers and then to the Sacramento Kings. Just last summer he refused to attend training with the team led by Mike Brown, and in which the Catalan Jordi Fernández is first assistant, to concentrate with the Bulgarian national team.

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