By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
It’s quite the storyline for this season’s Turkish Airlines EuroLeague that the 2024-25 MVP marathon has now evolved more or less into a race between two prominent representatives of Greece’s two archrival clubs and perennial powerhouses in the competition.
Sasha Vezenkov versus Kendrick Nunn; Kendrick Nunn versus Sasha Vezenkov. While Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens, the reigning champion, and Olympiacos Piraeus are competing to go all the way and lift the trophy, these two fantastic players are also clashing in their own way for the now regular season MVP award.
You will find Paris Basketball guard TJ Shorts a couple of spots lower than in the previous MVP Ladder mainly due to his team losing some of its spark. Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul forward Nigel Hayes-Davis and EA7 Emporio Armani Milan forward Nikola Mirotic retain their place while FC Bayern Munich scorer Carsen Edwards was cut due to a combination of inconsistent games and an extra number of losses for the Bavarian side.
A reminder that individual numbers, their team’s record, leadership on the floor and overall impact on results all play a part in composing the MVP Ladder.
Check the MVP Ladder Vol. 1 and MVP Ladder Vol. 2
1. Sasha Vezenkov – Olympiacos Piraeus
Season Stats: 20.1 points (1st), 6.4 rebounds (5th), 24.2 PIR (1st)
Team Record: 16-6 (1st)
Previous spots on the MVP Ladder: Absent in Vol. 2, 3rd in Vol. 1
The fiercest hater of dribbling in the EuroLeague and now the holder of the third-highest scoring mark in the modern era of the competition is back. Sasha Vezenkov rightfully claimed top spot on the MVP Ladder by – putting it simply – being the best player on the best team with his numbers and Olympiacos’s upwardly rising record.
During Olympiacos’s recent 7-0 run, Vezenkov put up 23.7 points and 7.1 rebounds while shooting the ball with 74.5 percent Effective Field Goal shooting as his team has climbed atop of the standings. Forget about the 50-40-90 club because the Bulgarian forward has been hitting 60-50-90 splits during that stretch, sitting at a ridiculous 1.43 points per possession. All these illustrate the kind of top-level efficiency that is just piercing the ceiling himself is constantly pushing higher and higher.
Sure, you can argue how the 45-point performance in a blowout win over Bayern Munich kind of inflated his numbers, but it’s to his credit that he produced more than double of his already prolific season average in a single game. Even more so considering that he missed just two of the 20 shots he took in a quite organic outing.
When it comes to game specifics, Vezenkov had 19 of his game-high 24 points during a second-half comeback from down 14 as the Reds got the win at Zalgiris Kaunas, in addition to putting up 21 points in the team’s road victory over EA7 Emporio Armani Milan. Before his 45-piece, the 2023 MVP had set his then-season high of 27 points to lead his team past Virtus Segafredo Bologna.
2. Kendrick Nunn – Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens
Season Stats: 19.8 points (2nd), 3.6 assists, 3.5 rebounds, 18.1 PIR (10th)
Team Record: 13-9 (tied for 4th)
Previous spot on the MVP Ladder: 5th in Vol. 2 and Vol. 1
A week ago, Kendrick Nunn seemed to be a lock for first place in the third edition of the MVP Ladder. He had tied the streak for the most consecutive games with 25+ points, averaging 28.8 ppg. as well as 4.6 assists and 4.2 rebounds for a Panathinaikos side that recorded five wins in a row to bounce back to form after a small rough patch. He wasn’t just the competition’s leading scorer, but the most electrifying and unstoppable human being to hold a ball on a EuroLeague court.
Then the double-round week happened and the conversation here inevitably shifted, with Nunn going from the clear No. 1 to falling to No. 2 During the Greens’ trip to Spain, he was a negative factor for Panathinaikos, tallying 7.0 points on 5-of-22 shooting from the field and committing 11 turnovers in total for his poorest outputs this season as his team suffered back-to-back losses at FC Barcelona and Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz.
The fact that he still ranks so high despite these – uncharacteristically for him – bad set of games speaks volumes to how impressive and invaluable his performances have been for Panathinaikos prior to last week.
During his side’s aforementioned 5-0 run, Nunn was battering opponents into obliteration and bringing their frustration with him to near-despair levels. Seriously, just listen to how Baskonia forward Chima Moneke or Milan coach Ettore Messina were praising him during or after he was torching their teams at OAKA. He had 39 points plus 7 rebounds against the Red Shoes before combining his 26 points with a career-high 9 assists against the Basque side. When Panathinaikos became the first team to beat Bayern at SAP Garden, the American guard led the charge again with 27 points and 6 rebounds.
3. TJ Shorts – Paris Basketball
Season Stats: 18.4 points (4th), 7.6 assists (2nd), 2.6 rebounds, 22.3 in PIR (3rd)
Team Record: 13-8 (tied for 3rd) with one game less
Previous spot on the MVP Ladder: 1st in Vol 2., 3rd in Vol. 1
The small calamity (which was literal, too, at some point because of an illness outbreak) that befell Paris Basketball with five losses in a row and toppled them from the peak of the EuroLeague standings, along with the soaring performances of the two players above, are what dropped TJ Shorts two positions down on the MVP Ladder.
Shorts didn’t play in one of those matches (the defeat to Real Madrid) and these results had less to do with his own play, instead being related to some general issues that Paris was dealing as a whole, like shooting slumps or weak defensive effort. He’s still strong in the MVP race as the player with by far the biggest, positive impact on a winning – and overachieving – team.
In the last two games, the previously withering Paris seems to be blossoming again with Shorts setting the tone. He had 8 of his 17 points in the last seven minutes of a very close win over Anadolu Efes Istanbul, along with 6 assists, and then put on a playmaking masterpiece en route to a season-high 14 assists plus 11 points as his team beat Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv to complete a perfect double-round week.
4. Nigel Hayes-Davis – Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul
Season Stats: 17.7 points (7th), 5.1 rebounds for 18.1 in PIR (9th)
Team Record: 14-7 (2nd) with one game less
Previous spot on the MVP Ladder: 3rd in Vol. 2, absent in Vol. 1
Fenerbahce got back on their feet after with a 4-0 streak following three straight defeats, and Nigel Hayes-Davis is finding his MVP self again in the last couple of games and the double-round week in particular.
Against Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, one of the top defensive teams in the EuroLeague, Hayes-Davis had 27 points to lead Fenerbahce to an important win. Two days later, he poured in 9 of his team-high 21 points in the last seven minutes of a comeback victory over Zalgiris.
Hayes-Davis is leading Fener in both points and rebounds, helping the Turkish team improve to second in the standings, despite dealing with key injury problems since the start of the season. MVP material.
5. Nikola Mirotic – EA7 Emporio Armani Milan
Season Stats: 18.3 points (5th), 6.6 rebounds (3rd), 2.0 assists, 22.8 in PIR (2nd)
Team Record: 12-10 (tied for fourth-best)
Previous spot on the MVP Ladder: 4th in Vol. 2, absent in Vol. 1
Not many players can claim that they have been as consistent over the last eight rounds – i.e. since the previous MVP Ladder – as Nikola Mirotic. The Milan superstar never scored fewer than 16 points during that stretch and while his team went 4-4, they remained positive in the win-loss column.
Mirotic provided Milan with 19 points and 7 rebounds in a road win over Barcelona at Palau Blaugrana. Then, at LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, he had team highs of 18 points and 8 rebounds in a hard-earned victory down the stretch.
While Mirotic’s numbers have dropped overall and are not as striking as before, he remains one of the season’s most elite performers so far.
Three notable cuts:
Facu Campazzo – Real Madrid
Carsen Edwards – Bayern Munich
Mike James – AS Monaco