Before jetting to Turkey for vacation, Alex Ovechkin made an appearance at Moscow’s Megasport Arena and showed his respect to a fellow DMV legend.
Tuesday night, Ovechkin presented Melo Trimble, a former star at the University of Maryland, with the VTB United League’s MVP award. The VTB is Russia’s top basketball league in the country.
Ovechkin, along with VTB United League General Director Ilona Korstin, announced Trimble the winner ahead of Game 1 of the Belov Cup Finals.
Trimble, a point guard from DC, averaged 18.3 points per game this season and led the league in total points with 882. He also shot 90.7 percent from the free-throw line and averaged 4.1 assists per game. Trimble also led the league in efficiency with a 22.7.
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Trimble helped CSKA finish atop the league standings for the first time since 2023, which is the summer Trimble joined the squad, with an impressive 37-3 record. CSKA has dominated the league, winning 12 of the league’s 15 championships in history, including the past two seasons with Trimble. He won Playoff MVP both years.
Trimble recently signed a new three-year contract with CSKA, locking him in until 2029.
A Washington, DC native, Trimble was an ESPN five-star prospect and played for the University of Maryland for three seasons before declaring for the NBA Draft. He was named a Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Finalist his sophomore year, after helping Maryland to a 15-1 start (Trimble led the team in points for 7 of those games)– one of the school’s best ever.
After receiving the trophy, Trimble pushed CSKA Moscow to a 91-63 victory over UNICS Kazan. He led the team with 26 points and helped the team recover from its early 8-0 deficit, eventually sinking a three-pointer to give CSKA its first lead of the game. CSKA now leads UNICS 1-0 in the finals as they chase a three-peat.
Along with Trimble and Ovechkin’s shared DMV connection, Ovechkin has additional ties to CSKA. He is good friends with former CSKA guard Vitaly Fridzon, who was a groomsman at his wedding. Fridzon has discussed Ovechkin’s support of the team in the past.
“[He] loves basketball,” Fridzon said, via a Google translation. “He’d go anywhere to support CSKA, especially if we’re talking about the finals.”
The pair hang out often when Ovechkin is on summer break, even playing volleyball together. In November of 2025, Ovechkin even named Fridzon as one of his top 5 current Russian athletes to Fonbet, per a Google translate translation.
Ovechkin’s most recent VTB League appearance comes ahead of his month-long family vacation. He has been branching out to sports off the ice, also recently attending the Russian Cup Superfinal and weighing in his FIFA World Cup predictions, while he ponders retirement.
S/T to @terrapins247/X for first posting and @c2_httr for the heads up!
