JALEEN SMITH: THE MVP-CANDIDATE AND TWITCH STREAMERHappy to announce that easyCredit BBL MVP-top candidate Jaleen Smithis joining the VEL!​www.twitch.tv/Jaleen3Jaleen Smith is not new to the 2K and twitch community. The captain of the German-side MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg is a point guard, who stays humble, not only on the real-court, but also virtually.He is definitely one of the best German gamers, even though he has a tough schedulejust around the corner in reallife. With only two losses so far, Ludwigsburg is the leader ineasyCredit BBL (German Bundesliga) and with a huge advantage staying in front of Euroleague Cup Quarterfinalist FC Bayern (3rd spot) and ALBA Berlin (2nd spot).​The combo guard has improved his game dramatically in the last couple years.From 2nd German division side Heidelberg, he moved to Ludwigsburg and quickly becamethe fan favourite of the team coached by extroverted successful coach John Patrick.​It is no surprise any more, that Euroleague teams are running after him to see Smith scoring for their side.Last year Jaleen was very nearly to signing with Eurocup-team Virtus Bologna, to become backup of Hall-of-Fame Guard Milos Teodosic. The deal was not completed, and Jaleen improved his stats even more this season, although Ludwigsburgdoes not participate in European tournaments this year, the German Bundesliga is one with the highest competition,especially on domestic stages compared to other countries' leagues.​Of course Jaleen will play with MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg also in the VEL.With 26 teams participating, and some who are not in the reallife Euroleague, Jaleen got a wildcard for himself and for the team virtually.It will be interesting to see, if Smith with play the same full court press and trap like his team does in the easyCredit BBL.​​What are his chances at the tournament? It actually maybe a case of daily form. Jaleen can be the David and the Goliard in certain cases.But no matter what, he will be in the clinching play-offs discussion.​We will see more as soon as power rankings will be released, shortly before the league's start.And of course what bookmakers will think about the participants and their coefficients.

Two times Matchday MVP of the Euroleague Sasha Vezenkov joined the VEL!​Vezenkov will compete with his own avatar and team Olympiacos Piraeus.Competing with the greek-side and being counted as a Greek player in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague, Sasha will be in with a Greek card in the tournament. This also means that his wins would not count for Bulgaria but for Greece,even though in reallife he is a current bulgarian national team player.​Already participated at the BFB eBasket-League of Bulgaria in 2020, and recorded a remarkable finals appearance,Vezenkov has not a complete outsider role in the upcoming VEL season.​Sasha has done a very good job for Olympiacos this season and has been probably the most used offensive optionin the system of the greek-side.Not competing in the Greek League, Olympiacos' season is over, as the team did not clinch an Euroleague Play-Off spot.A reason why Vezenkov will be able to play in the VEL, without any schedule issues.​Vezenkov's ranking points will go to Greece, as he is counted as greek nationality according to the Turkish Airlines Euroleague.In reallife the Stretch-Four Forward actually plays for the Bulgarian national team.Also he would also not be the only one having double or more citizenships, includingly the Bulgarian, but not getting hisranking points into account for Bulgaria.Also Viktor Vladov, the highest ranked Bulgarian Gamer on 2K and organizer of the BFB eBasket League in 2020and Peter Kushev decided to collect ranking points for Germany.

The Virtual Euroleague is just around the corner! Stay tuned on www.euroleague2k.com to who will be the season opener at the first ever virtual Euroleague. What is actually the VEL (Virtual Euro-League) all about? It connect's world's best 2K players at the MyLeague regime into an online MyLeague based competition. Overall 26 participants from all over the globe and not only Europe, will participate and control one of the 18 Euroleague teams of the season 2021/22 or one of the 8 added teams from Eurocup (Monaco, Unics Kazan, Virtus Bologna, Gran Canaria, MornarBar), as well as the recently leader in the German Bundesliga, MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg and two more teams from Bulgaria (Balkan Botevgrad and Lukoil Levski Sofia). The participants are ProGamers, such as former NBA2KLeague Star-ProGamer "JLB", who has been part of the Mavericks Gaming Team, but also professional basketball players like Sasha Vezenkov, the Superstar of the Olympiacos Piraeus Euroleague Team, Jaleen Smith (MVP candidate of the easyCredit Basketball Bundesliga), Davonte Jordan (part of montenegrian EuroCup-side Mornar Bar) and many others. The competition starts officially on May, 1st 2021.