The Bulgarian international returned to the Reds on Wednesday
Vezenkov was missed at Olympiacos last year - now he's back with a vengeance
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Let’s take a trip down memory lane. Fourteen months ago, Sasha Vezenkov was enjoying a performance for the ages in the 2024 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Championship Game.
The 2022-23 EuroLeague MVP had 29 points against Real Madrid, the joint most ever in the title decider, but Sergio Llull’s game-winning basket meant that Vezenkov and Olympiacos Piraeus went home without the trophy. It was a painful yet familiar feeling.
Just one year prior, Vasilije Micic drained a three-pointer at the buzzer of Anadolu Efes Istanbul’s semifinal clash against Olympiacos, which left the Reds having to compete in the third-place game. After waiting five years to make the EuroLeague Final Four, it was a real smack in the face.
For Olympiacos and Vezenkov, those back-to-back frustrations were compounded by the forward’s decision to seal his long-awaited move to the NBA with the Sacramento Kings in the summer of 2023.
Admittedly, head coach Georgios Bartzokas was still able to take Olympiacos to a third straight Final Four for the first time in club history, but the team came up short – albeit not in as heartbreaking a situation – in the semifinals against Real.
Olympiacos then had to watch archrival Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens do what it could not do one year prior – defeat Los Blancos to become the EuroLeague champion. That is something no Reds fan will have enjoyed, including owners Giorgos and Panagiotis Angelopoulos.
Rather than decide to blow up the roster, Olympiacos has made tweaks to its playing squad this summer. The notable departures have included Isaiah Canaan, Ignas Brazdeikis and Luke Sikma, but Tyler Dorsey, Luca Vildoza and the injured Keenan Evans, who is expected to be out for four to six more months after undergoing knee surgery in May, have bolstered the club’s options.
Yet, the whole time there has been one name on the fans’ lips: Vezenkov.
Once Vezenkov got traded from the Sacramento Kings to the Toronto Raptors on June 28, which came after early reports of a possible return to SEF, Olympiacos fans were glued to Twitter in the hope that the 28-year-old would not be a part of the franchise’s plans.
Well, on Monday, July 22, the supporters got what they wanted as he was waived by the Raptors, leaving him free to sign for the Reds once he passed the 48-hour waiver period. Then, Wednesday night saw the deal become official: Vezenkov is an Olympiacos player again, having penned a five-year deal at the club.
Vezenkov remains an idol at Olympiacos after earning a place in the fans’ hearts between 2018 and 2023. Now he has the chance to become a legend at the club if he can bring a first EuroLeague championship to SEF since 2013.
The best basketball in Vezenkov’s career has come under Coach Bartzokas, first at FC Barcelona in the 2015-16 season and then at Olympiacos between January 2020 and July 2023. Now that they are together once again, they have one goal in mind – taking the Reds to the top of European basketball.
Seeing Panathinaikos not only win the EuroLeague trophy but also the Greek League title was a bitter pill to swallow, but Olympiacos now has what it hopes is its final piece in the jigsaw.
All eyes will be on Round 8 when the Reds and the Greens go to battle at OAKA, with an all-star cast of players set to be on display. The addition of Vezenkov certainly makes things very interesting when looking ahead to the first Greek derby of the year.
Vezenkov was the missing ingredient for Olympiacos last season. Now it seems the Reds have the full recipe as they aim to become the 2024-25 EuroLeague champions.