PRESS RELEASE

Sasha Vezenkov is the 2025 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs MVP

The Olympiacos forward is the first winner of the award

Euroleague Basketball congratulates Olympiacos Piraeus forward Sasha Vezenkov as the winner of the Most Valuable Player Award for the 2025 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs. The forward left his fingerprints all over his team's playoff series as the Reds eliminated 2024 runner-up Real Madrid in four games.

Vezenkov was a constant force for Olympiacos, averaging 19.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game while shooting an impressive 60.6% on two-pointers. His overall efficiency was equally remarkable, posting a Performance Index Rating (PIR) of 22.8, which led all players in the playoffs. Most telling of his impact, Vezenkov accounted for 23.8% of Olympiacos’s total points in the series, underscoring his central role in the team’s offensive success.

The award marks the first time that Euroleague Basketball has named a Playoffs MVP and it is only fitting that a signature player such as Vezenkov would win it. The 2022-23 EuroLeague MVP, now in his sixth season with Olympiacos, was last month named to the All-EuroLeague First Team for the third time.

Vezenkov was his usual dominant self at the series' onset against Real. He tallied 23 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals for a PIR of 31 in an 84-71 victory in the opener and followed that with 22 points and 9 rebounds in the second game at Peace & Friendship Stadium. When the series moved to the Spanish capital, Real took Game 3 despite 21 points, 9 rebounds and 4 dimes from its virtuoso.

Needing a win in Game 4 to close out the series, Vezenkov's MVP credentials could be seen as he rose to the moment when it mattered most, even as his well-known shooting prowess briefly failed him. Vezenkov was held scoreless for the first two and a half quarters, before coming alive to score a flurry of 7 points late in the third quarter. He then had a hand in 14 of Olympiacos’s 18 fourth-quarter points - through assists, offensive rebounds to extend possessions and a clutch triple with 2 minutes remaining - to seal both the game and the series with veteran poise and unshakable composure. He finished that game with 10 points and a season-high 6 assists.

With his blend of scoring efficiency, leadership, and timely heroics, Vezenkov proved instrumental in Olympiacos’s march through the playoffs. And now he leads the Reds to Abu Dhabi, where he will target his first EuroLeague crown.

Euroleague Basketball (EB) is a global leader in the sports and entertainment business, devoted to running the top European competitions of professional basketball clubs under a unique and innovative organizational model. Owned and administered by some of the most successful and historic clubs in the world, EB manages the continent’s two premier men’s basketball competitions, the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and the BKT EuroCup, as well as the sport’s premier under-18 showcase, the EB Adidas Next Generation Tournament.

The EB competitions bring the elite of European basketball to all five continents and to the entire sports community through the OTT platform EuroLeague TV. EB also organizes a series of community and educational activities, led by the One Team program, in alignment with the United Nations Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. On the academic side, the EB Sports Business MBA trains future professionals in sports management.