Is Sasha Vezenkov the Kings’ missing piece next season?

Is Sasha Vezenkov the Kings’ missing piece next season? originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Sasha Vezenkov left Olympiacos as one of the greatest players in their history, he left Europe as the greatest player in the continent and he’ll enter the NBA as … a rookie who must prove he belongs with the best players in the world.

That challenge begins soon, as the 28-year-old officially will begin his highly anticipated NBA journey in the 2023-24 season with the Kings, who acquired his draft rights last summer and signed him to a reported three-year, $20 million contract last month.

While several question marks surround this international man of mystery, the EuroLeague MVP’s fit in Sacramento’s system should be seamless. He’s an extremely efficient scorer whose style of play is similar to how the Kings run their offense. Vezenkov constantly is moving, cutting and finding ways to get open – sound familiar?

He is a catch-and-shoot big whose numbers are just as incredible as his ability to knock down the most astonishing, well-contested shots. The 6-foot-9 forward is a career 40-percent 3-point shooter who shoots 63 percent from inside the arc.

And these numbers didn’t just come from a season or two, these are his shooting splits over the course of his entire eight-year career in the second-best basketball league in the world.

His quick release is lethal and extremely rare as a big. He pretty much can pull up from anywhere on the court, and it doesn’t matter how well he’s guarded or how much space he has — all he needs is a little wiggle room to fire away and knock down a trey.

Even though Vezenkov’s biggest threat is as a catch-and-shoot big, he has learned to find other ways to make an impact. While playing with Olympiacos, opposing teams began to pick up on Vezenkov’s game and double- or even triple-team him at times. This forced him to become a better passer and allow his teammates to become more involved with all the attention on him.

That…