One of the shrewdest trades in Toronto Raptors history looks even better today. That’s because Sasha Vezenkov is heading back to Europe. Not that Vezenkov is a bad player — he is a former EuroLeague MVP and scoring leader after all — but on a rebuilding Raptors team there’s little need for a veteran who is about to turn 29 with limited upside and some defensive liabilities.
Vezenkov had been owed $6.65 million U.S.
by the Raptors for the 2024-25 season after being acquired from the Sacramento Kings along with point guard Davion Mitchell and the 45th pick of June’s NBA draft (which turned into another point guard, reigning NCAA defensive player of the year Jamal Shead) in exchanged for little-used Raptor Jalen McDaniels. Sacramento made the strange move in order to clear out salary, which was eventually used to add former Raptors star DeMar DeRozan. But in the end, Toronto didn’t take in all that much salary, since Vezenkov agreed to give up the entire $6.
65 million to sign a multi-year deal in Greece, according to Sportsnet’s Blake Murphy . Reports out of Europe earlier this month had pegged Vezenkov’s departure to Olympiacos as a done deal, but Raptors president Masai Ujiri had cautioned that nothing had been decided. “We’re still going through that situation.
I had conversations with Sasha, his representation and I think that should develop in the next few days or we’ll see whether it’s a few months,” Ujiri had told reporters in Toronto. “We acqu.