By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
The first MVP was from the USA and succeeded himself; all the rest have been from Europe and succeeded each other.
Eurohoops remembers them one by one and awaits the next in line…
2004-05
ANTHONY PARKER – USA
18 points | 5.3 rebounds | 3.6 assists | 2 steals | 0.6 blocks | 1.8 turnovers | 34:44 minutes | 24.9 PIR
Scoring was his specialty, but not the only talent of which he had many and knew like few others how to reveal them on the court. In his third season in the competition, Anthony Parker also knew how to turn those talents into personal triumph. With career-high averages in points, steals and PIR, his selection as MVP coincided with the second of back-to-back trophies with Maccabi Tel Aviv.
2005-06
ANTHONY PARKER – USA
14.8 points | 6.9 rebounds | 3.8 assists | 1.7 steals | 0.2 blocks | 2.4 turnovers | 35:29 minutes | 20.5 PIR
Two is always better than one, and this goes for Parker as well. With the consistency that had always characterized his game plus career highs in rebounds and assists, his second MVP award came on the heels of the first. The fact that Parker remains not just the only player with back-to-back awards, but also the only non-European MVP, makes his place in the golden book of the competition even more special.
2006-07
THEODOROS PAPALOUKAS – GREECE
9.8 points | 3.2 rebounds | 5.4 assists | 1.7 steals | 0.2 blocks | 2.4 turnovers | 24:22 minutes | 15.3 PIR
When his opponents figured something out, he was already onto the next thing. This was the element that made him special during his years on the court and for that season’s CSKA Moscow team. The career-best averages in points, rebounds, assists and PIR were more than enough to highlight Theodoros Papaloukas’s value and earn him the title of EuroLeague MVP as proof. In addition to being the first European to receive this honor, he became the first Euroleague Basketball Legend too, in 2013.