By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Scoring your only points in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague final with three seconds to go is a definition of the clutch, and that’s why no one can argue about the 2023 ELPA Players’ Choice Award for “Most Clutch Player” went in the hands of Real Madrid’s Sergio Llull.
“A player that best performed under pressure and when the games were on the line,” as stated in the EuroLeague Players’ Association announcement.
Like a true captain, Llull took matters into his own hands when everything his team worked for the whole season was on the line, and despite not scoring until the final moments, he made a game-winning bucket to bring Madrid the 11th European title.
The 35-year-old Spaniard averaged 6,1 points and 2,4 assists in 29 appearances in his 16h EuroLeague season with Los Blancos.
SLOUKAS BEST 6TH MAN, HAYES DAVIS MIP
Olympiacos Piraeus experienced playmaker Kostas Sloukas was voted “Best 6th Man” by ELPA players.
“A player that started more than half of EuroLeague regular season games from the bench and had the biggest impact on his team’s overall play,” as stated in ELPA’s announcement.
Sloukas was one of the critical pieces of the Georgios Bartozokas team’s run to first place in regular season standings and the Championship Game in Kaunas, averaging 11 points and 5,6 assists.
Fenerbahce Beko’s Nigel Hayes Davis was voted “Most Improved Player.”
“A player that has shown the biggest improvement from his previous EuroLeague season.”
The former Zalgiris and Barcelona player had a great season and was one of the most important players in Dimitris Itoudis’s squad, averaging 10,5 points and 4,4 rebounds in 39 games played in the EuroLeague.
Previously, ELPA awarded Cazoo Baskonia’s Darius Thompson as “Best Newcomer”, and ALBA Berlin’s Luke Sikma got a “Fair Play” award for the second straight season. At the same time, Milano’s center Kyle Hines was named “Most Respected Player “for the third time in a row.