What swayed Sasha Vezenkov’s decision to join Kings now

What swayed Sasha Vezenkov’s decision to join Kings now originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SACRAMENTO — Three months after being named the EuroLeague MVP, Kings rookie Sasha Vezenkov packed his bags, flew nearly 7,000 miles to the United States and embarked on a new journey in Northern California as he makes his transition into the NBA.

A few days after his arrival to Sacramento, Vezenkov approached the podium inside Golden 1 Center on Thursday for his introductory press conference. To his side was reigning NBA Executive of the Year Monte McNair. A few feet to his right was the unanimous 2022-23 NBA Coach of the Year Mike Brown. Standing next to Brown were fellow Kings teammates, the league’s first Clutch Player of the Year De’Aaron Fox and NBA rookie 3-point king Keegan Murray.

Collectively, McNair, Brown, Fox, Murray and the rest of the team made history inside that same building just a few months prior, and Sacramento’s newfound success was the main reason why Vezenkov sat there Thursday afternoon with “Kings basketball” across his chest.

“Like I said, I like to win games and this helped in my decision,” Vezenkov said on the timing of his decision to join the Kings. “As we saw, the Kings last year were a fantastic team, playing beautiful basketball, but the most important — winning. So it helped me a lot. I didn’t see every game, but I saw a bunch of games, and it really helped my decision.”

The Brooklyn Nets selected Vezenkov in the second round of the 2017 NBA Draft before the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired his draft rights in a multi-team trade involving NBA star James Harden. Last summer, his rights were traded to the Kings for the 49th pick in the 2022 draft, which became Isaiah Mobley.

Vezenkov opted to play last season in Europe with Olympiacos and wound up having the greatest season of his career. While his goal of winning a EuroLeague championship fell just seconds away from becoming a reality, Vezenkov knew it was time to move on and fulfill another goal of his.

Calls were made and conversations were had, and both sides agreed there was no better timing than now to bring the European superstar to the NBA.

McNair, Brown and the Kings organization were aware of the special talent that the 6-foot-9 forward was, but they spent last season traveling to see him in person and getting to know him off the court. It’s something that didn’t go unnoticed by Vezenkov or his family, and it made the decision to move across the world much easier.

“For us, we traded for his rights two drafts ago, but this is a big decision for Sasha,” McNair said. “So my goal and us going to see him was to just forge that relationship. If the NBA was [somewhere] that he wanted to be in his future, I wanted to show him that we would be a great landing spot, that we would be a great fit for him.

“… So, it was really a two-way street and certainly excitement for us, because we know that he’s a great player and we think he’s going to…