Cyprus product Sasha Vezenkov addressed media about his potential new home with the Sacramento Kings following an NBA Draft Day trade.
A potential sleeping giant the Sacramento Kings acquired on the day of the 2022 NBA Draft was Sasha Vezenkov of Olympiacos Piraeus, one of many Greecian teams in the EuroLeague.
Vezenkov’s draft rights (and cash considerations) were acquired by Sacramento from the Cleveland Cavaliers on Draft Day in exchange for Sacramento’s 49th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. The Kings were quiet on draft night outside of their No. 4 overall addition of Keegan Murray, but now, just about a week later, Vezenkov talked to Maria Mitsova of BG Basket about his status, and told her that while he doesn’t plan to play in summer league, he is glad to be with Sacramento:
“I’m excited that my Draft rights are in a club that really wanted to have it. I know the Kings scouted and followed me during the season,” Vezenkov said. “Not planning to play in Summer League. We will talk soon. Just glad that a team that knows me, has my rights.”
Keeping things short and sweet, the first team Euro-Leaguer addressed many questions that the Kingdom has in one breezy quip. The Kings will not have the 26-year old rookie at the California Classic this weekend, or NBA Summer League in Las Vegas in mid-July.
It’s currently unknown whether or not Vezenkov will be joining Sacramento anytime soon. He told Mitsova he plans to play in Eurobasket in September, but beyond that, we don’t know his plans yet. We experienced a similar situation in 2016, when a rookie Bogdan Bogdanovic joined the team after a long summer with his team in Serbia.
So for now, the Kingdom will have to split its time between watching Murray college highlights, last season’s woes and now EuroLeague as another branch on Sacramento’s tree continues to flourish.