{"id":701320,"date":"2026-04-06T12:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T12:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/701320\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T12:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T12:36:18","slug":"sasha-vezenkovs-agent-blames-mike-brown-for-failed-sacramento-stint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/701320\/","title":{"rendered":"Sasha Vezenkov\u2019s agent blames Mike Brown for failed Sacramento stint"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Stavros Barbarousis & George Adamopoulos\/ info@eurohoops.net<\/a><\/p>\n

The NBA odyssey of Sasha Vezenkov serves as a case study in the importance of timing and coaching alignment, as detailed by his longtime representative, Nikos Lotsos, during his interview with Eurohoops.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on a journey that ultimately saw the player return to Greece, the veteran agent suggested the foundation for later frustrations was laid years earlier when a significant opportunity with the Denver Nuggets<\/a> was bypassed. During his tenure at FC Barcelona, the then-assistant general manager of the Nuggets<\/a>, Arturas Karnisovas, reached out with a firm commitment. \u201cTell him to stay in the draft,\u201d Lotsos recalled of the conversation. \u201cWe are giving him a guarantee, a promise, as they say, that we will take him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite additional outreach from Nikola Jokic and head coach Mike Malone, the reigning EuroLeague MVP opted to withdraw from the annual NBA draft, a decision he would eventually lament once sidelined in Sacramento. \u201cYou know what? You were right,\u201d the player admitted to his agent. \u201cI should have gone when you told me to, and I didn\u2019t listen.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the 30-year-old power forward finally joined the Sacramento Kings<\/a> in 2023, following a draft path that saw his rights start from the Brooklyn Nets<\/a> and later reach California, the emotional disconnect was already present. Lotsos maintains that the move happened at the wrong time, describing a player who felt pressured by external expectations rather than personal conviction.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe went there because everyone was telling him he had to go,\u201d the agent explained. \u201cHis heart was here.\u201d<\/p>\n

This lack of internal drive was compounded by a perceived absence of support from Mike Brown. While the Kings<\/a>\u2018 front office conducted multiple scouting missions to Greece, Lotsos remained skeptical of the head coach\u2019s interest, suggesting that \u201ceveryone else wanted him except for Brown.\u201d The agent believes the lack of a true advocate in the coaching staff directly resulted in\u00a0Europe\u2019s Larry Bird, as he dubbed him, failing to secure consistent playing time.<\/p>\n

Upon his exit from the NBA in the summer of 2024, the landscape in Greece shifted into a momentous pursuit between the country\u2019s basketball giants. As the forward prepared to leave the Toronto Raptors<\/a> following a trade from Sacramento, Panathinaikos<\/a> owner Dimitris Giannakopoulos made a bold, personal play for his services.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, there\u2019s one player I want from you, and that is Vezenkov,\u201d Giannakopoulos told the agent in a direct message.<\/p>\n

Despite this aggressive pursuit, the star forward ultimately chose a homecoming with Olympiacos<\/a>, closing a chapter of what might have been had the timing across the Atlantic been different.<\/p>\n

Read the latest News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Stavros Barbarousis & George Adamopoulos\/ info@eurohoops.net The NBA odyssey of Sasha Vezenkov serves as a case study…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3792],"tags":[7,4056,6,986,477,4055],"class_list":{"0":"post-701320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento-kings","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-kings","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sacramento","12":"tag-sacramento-kings","13":"tag-sacramentokings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116357797278439004","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}