Alexander Vezenkov named best basketball player in the world outside the NBA

Alexander Vezenkov has won the title again, and by a wider margin than before. The Bulgarian forward playing for Olympiacos received 77 percent of the vote in the annual pre-season survey of all 30 NBA general managers, which asks executives to name the best non-NBA basketball player in the world, according to Club Z. He took 44 percent when he topped the same poll the previous year.

From EuroLeague MVP to NBA recognition

Vezenkov won the EuroLeague Most Valuable Player award last season. Club Z reports that this year's NBA general managers survey, conducted ahead of the new season, shows how that reputation has carried across the Atlantic. Lithuanian center Jonas Valanciunas of Zalgiris Kaunas finished second with 7 percent of the vote. Joakim Bumbude-Bumbude, Nikola Mirotic, Jean Montero, Kendrick Nunn and Eddy Tavares also received votes.

The NBA general managers survey is an annual tradition in which the league's top executives weigh in on everything from MVP predictions to the best talent playing outside their competition.

What the result means for Bulgarians abroad

Basketball is not the first sport outsiders associate with Bulgaria, which makes Vezenkov's back-to-back finishes atop a poll conducted by NBA executives notable for members of the Bulgarian diaspora following from abroad.

The broader survey also covered the upcoming NBA season. Club Z reports that the San Antonio Spurs received exactly 50 percent of general managers' votes as favorites to win the championship, followed by the Oklahoma City Thunder at 43 percent. The reigning champion New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers also received mentions. Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs was the top choice for MVP, with more than three quarters of the vote, and was also the player around whom executives said they would most want to build a franchise.

Vezenkov, by the judgment of the people who run the NBA, is the best basketball player on the planet not currently playing in it. He has now held that distinction in back-to-back surveys.