site.btaBulgarian Basketball Player Aleksandar Vezenkov Named Euroleague's Most Valuable Player

Bulgarian basketball player Aleksandar Vezenkov was officially named Most Valuable Player of the Euroleague men's basketball 2022/2023 season on Thursday.

Vezenkov received the prestigious award personally from the Euroleague President, Serbian basketball legend Dejan Bodiroga, at a ceremony in Kaunas, Lithuania. The semi-finals and the final of the Euroleague playoffs will be played in the city from Friday to Sunday. On Friday, the Bulgarian and his Olympiacos teammates will face the Monaco team in the first semi-final of the Euroleague at 6 pm.

Bulgaria's No. 1 athlete for 2022 was pleasantly surprised by his family’s attendance of the ceremony - his father Sasho Vezenkov, his mother Yanka and his sister Michaela were invited by the organizers. Michaela announced the winner of the award, which is presented after voting among coaches, team captains, media representatives and fans.

Vezenkov won the award for best scorer in the Euroleague and was named in the Ideal Team for the season. He tops the Euroleague in performance index rating (21.2) and in scoring with an average of 17.2 points per match.

"We are happy to be in Kaunas. To be in the Final Four again is something really big and we are happy about it," said Vezenkov.

"My family is everything to me. They gave me an upbringing, taught me how to be a good person. My father was a basketball player and I wanted to follow his path. Most of all, I owe everything I am today to my father, my mother and my sister," added the Bulgarian basketball player.

The last match of Olympiacos’ quarter-final series was attended by Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown - the team from the National Basketball Association (NBA) acquired the Bulgarian's draft rights on June 23, 2022 but he decided to stay in Europe. "We want the season to end first, and then we will talk to him. We are extremely excited about him," Brown said during the match, cited by gazzetta.gr.

Vezenkov is bound by a long-term contract with Olympiacos (runs through 2025), but he has an NBA out after the current season is over. If he joins the NBA, Vezenkov will become the second Bulgarian to do so after Georgi Glouchkov played for Phoenix Suns between 1985 and 1986.