NBA GMs Name Vezenkov Best Player Outside the League at 77%

By Taki Panos

Seventy-seven percent is not a polite nod. It is a landslide. In the 25th annual NBA GM Survey, published Thursday, NBA general managers named Olympiacos forward Sasha Vezenkov the best international player not currently in the league, as the NBA reported. That share of the vote rose from 44 percent a year ago, and it left Jonas Valanciunas of Zalgiris a distant second at 7 percent, Gazzetta wrote. When the people who build NBA rosters talk this clearly, you listen.

If you do not follow EuroLeague night after night, Vezenkov is the Bulgarian forward who has made Olympiacos his basketball home again, and who won EuroLeague MVP and scoring titles in 2025-26, per Gazzetta. He also spent a season with the Sacramento Kings before returning to Europe. For a fuller picture of his club form this month, see our write-up of Olympiacos' overtime win at Valencia. The GMs are not grading a highlight reel. They are grading a body of work.

The question on the survey was simple: who is the best international player not in the NBA? Vezenkov took 77 percent. Valanciunas got 7 percent. Also receiving votes were Joaquim Boumtje-Boumtje, Nikola Mirotic, Jean Montero, Kendrick Nunn and Edy Tavares, according to the NBA. Two of those names are familiar in Athens right now: Montero with Olympiacos and Nunn with Panathinaikos. That list is a quiet reminder of how much talent still sits outside the NBA's 30 teams.

Super Basket framed it as a bow from the league's decision makers toward the Olympiacos forward, and Debut.gr called the result a wave of praise for a player who has dominated Europe. Eurohoops also carried the same numbers in its coverage of the survey, in Turkish. Four outlets, one scoreboard. Seventy-seven to seven is not a close race. For a player who left the NBA and then tore through Europe again, that kind of consensus is rare.

Context matters. Last year's survey already had Vezenkov first on this question, at 44 percent. This year the gap exploded. That jump tracks with what Greek fans have watched up close: a forward who can stretch the floor, finish through contact and punish soft rotations night after night in the EuroLeague. The GMs are not handing out a EuroLeague award. They are saying, in their own language, that if they could add one overseas name tomorrow, his would be near the top of the sheet.

The same survey had more Greek flavor on the NBA side. Giannis Antetokounmpo, now with the Miami Heat, was named the best power forward in the league with 70 percent of the vote, per the NBA. He also topped the ballot for the player acquisition expected to make the biggest impact this season, at 53 percent, ahead of Jaylen Brown and LeBron James. Miami finished second among teams for best overall offseason moves, behind only Philadelphia. For more on his early Heat nights, we covered his near triple-double against Brooklyn.

That double storyline is hard to miss. One Greek star is reshaping an Eastern Conference roster. Another, playing for Olympiacos, is the clear choice of NBA front offices as the best player still outside the league. Vezenkov's Wikipedia page lists the Kings chapter and the EuroLeague hardware. The survey puts a fresher stamp on the same resume. Front offices vote with their eyes, not with nostalgia.

There is a practical reading too. Every October the GM Survey leaks into draft rooms, trade talks and agent conversations. When 77 percent of general managers point at the same overseas forward, it raises the temperature around any future NBA interest. It does not mean a deal is close, and nobody should invent one. It does mean that if Olympiacos keep winning and Vezenkov keeps producing, the question will keep coming back. Fair math.

Olympiacos are also in the middle of a busy EuroLeague stretch. They travel to Barcelona on Friday night, as the Round 6 calendar shows, after that wild comeback win in Valencia. A survey result does not fill a box score, but it does land at a moment when the club's best players are under a European microscope again. Montero and Vezenkov both showed up in the "not in the NBA" conversation in different ways. That is a nice problem for a coaching staff to have.

Panathinaikos fans can take a small secondary note from the same ballot. Kendrick Nunn's name among the also-receiving votes is another data point that NBA eyes still track Greek EuroLeague rosters closely. The Greens host Hapoel Tel Aviv on Friday while sitting perfect at 5-0. Two Greek clubs, one survey, plenty of attention. The week is not short of basketball, and the people who hire NBA talent are clearly watching both Athens arenas.

My take: this is the kind of recognition that used to feel rare for EuroLeague stars who left the NBA and thrived again. Vezenkov did not just win the category. He dominated it. Combined with Giannis topping the power forward and impact-acquisition questions, Thursday's survey was a good day for Greek basketball on both sides of the Atlantic. The next test for Vezenkov is simpler: keep making Barcelona nights and SEF nights look like the reason those GMs voted that way.

Friday's trip to Barcelona is the immediate next chapter, and then the domestic calendar rolls on. For more on Olympiacos, Giannis and Greek athletes wherever they play, keep an eye on our Greek Sports section. Seventy-seven percent is loud. The games still have to answer it.

Sources: NBA.com, Gazzetta, Super Basket, Debut.gr, Eurohoops, Wikipedia.

Image: Sasha Vezenkov with Olympiacos BC in the EuroLeague, January 2026, by Zafer, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).