MIES (Switzerland) - It's time to continue the MVP Race for the tenth time in our history.
The checkpoints are in no way official, it's more of a tool for you to keep up with the biggest favorites to win the MVP of the Season award on the final weekend of the season in May.
To figure out who has the best chance to win the award, we have to take a look at the profiles of previous MVPs in the Basketball Champions League.
Jordan Theodore (Season I), Manny Harris (II), Tyrese Rice (III), Keith Langford (IV), Bonzie Colson (V), Chima Moneke (VI), TJ Shorts II (VII) and Marcelinho Huertas (VIII, IX) all reached the Final Four, all played crucial roles in their teams getting there, all made clutch shots during the seasons and had the numbers to prove they were the Most Valuable Players.
With that in mind, during the MVP Race, we will have four serious questions to help us figure out who the leader is at each checkpoint:
(1) Does his team have a winning record?
(2) Is he the reason why?
(3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP?
(4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it?
Since this is a column and - we repeat - not in any way an official ranking, we need the grand separator to figure out the leader.
That's why the fifth question will always be random, to give you a hint of who's the guy in the lead.
This week, it's pure and simple:
(5) Does his CV include firsthand experiences with cougars, bears and eagles?
(See? Number five is just random.)
#10 Trevor Hudgins (Le Mans Sarthe Basket)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 3-2 in the Round of 16, 7-6 total. (2) Is he the reason why? Yes and no. (2.33) Explain. Well, it's just that it's hot and cold with him. He had 30 on Gameday 4 of the Regular Season, and yes, that's nice, but that was his only game scoring above 19 across the first 12 matchups. So we thought, "okay, guess they rely on Johnny Berhanemeskel more then," and then he went off and poured in 28 this week. So yes, he's kinda the reason why they have a winning record, but also no, because they lost those two games when he had 30 and 28! In theory, they can win without him going crazy, and they can lose with him going crazy. (2.66) So, he's not the leader of the MVP Race now and we don't have to go through other questions? Exactly.
#9 Jerrick Harding (Rytas Vilnius)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 3-2 in the Round of 16, 7-4 for the season. (2) Is he the reason why? Of course. One interesting thing happened in their last game, he dished out season-high 5 assists, so let's see if Jordan Walker leaving means he gets more playmaking duties to create for others, not just himself. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? Yep, 19.0 points and 15.7 efficiency rating per game, both team-highs. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? Yep, lefty midrange or spin move into floater. (5) Does his CV include firsthand experiences with cougars, bears and eagles? Not really. So no, he's not the wildlife expert/leader of the MVP Race right now, no.
#8 Kendrick Perry (Unicaja)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? They've got five straight Quarter-Finals berths, could go to fourth straight Final Four and third straight title, so the answer to (1) with any Unicaja player, ever, will be yes, his team has a winning record. (1.5) ...okay, but what's the record, bro? 3-2 in the Round of 16, 9-2 overall in Season X. (2) Is he the reason why? Yep. Leads the team in points and assists, second in efficiency rating. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? Kinda? (3.33) Spanish minutes syndrome? Exactly. While 11.6 points and 4.6 assists sound solid, they aren't really close to some of the guys on this list. It's what coach Aleksandar Dzikic explained in one of our previous Final Fours, Spanish minutes mean all 12 guys get their minutes spread from 11-ish to 23-ish per game, meaning you won't get MVP numbers by a single guy, but you'll get a two-time champ with potential to become the first ever triple champ in BCL. (3.66) So KP is not the MVP Race leader, right? Right. But he's a part of this exercise, so don't blink.
#7 Errick McCollum (Galatasaray MCT Technic)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 4-1 in the Round of 16, 9-2 overall in Season X. (2) Is he the reason why? Leads the team in points and efficiency rating, so yes. But also... Not really. (2.1) Not this again. We already had Will Cummings, James Palmer Jr and Fabian White as potential MVPs from Galatasaray, and now they had John Meeks going completely nuts, after they had Bugrahan Tuncer going completely nuts in the previous Round of 16 Gameday. Too many MVPs on this roster. (2.2) What's the point of this? The point is just to point out that it's going to be an incredibly close call if somebody from Galatasaray ends up as MVP of the Season. (2.3) But does Errick have a case? Of course, double digits in all Round of 16 games, 17.9 points per game, he's a legend. (2.4) So what's the problem? He missed three Group Phase games early on, and they were still good, because James Palmer Jr, Will Cummings and Fabian White all looked like MVPs. (2.5) This feels like a roundabout. It does. (2.6) So, his recent run makes him the MVP of Galatasaray in the Round of 16? Yep. (2.7) But not the MVP of their season? The jury is still out on that. (2.8) Okay. The only current verdict: He's not the leader of the MVP Race right now? Nope. (2.9) Great. Thanks! You're welcome.
#6 Cameron Hunt (Joventut Badalona)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yeah, 4-1 in the Round of 16, 10-1 in Season X. (2) Is he the reason why? Without him, they could've easily been at 7-4, since he made three game-winning shots. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 14.4 points, 3.2 assists, but... Just 12.5 in efficiency rating per game. (3.33) Why is that a problem? Because there's another guy on his team who's ranked higher in the MVP Race. (3.66) Oh, okay. But Cam's good? Cam's good.
#5 Jack Kayil (ALBA BERLIN)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 4-1 in the Round of 16, 9-2 for the season. (2) Is he the reason why? Yep, he kept growing with each game after a slow(er) start. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 10.3 points, 4.1 assists, 2.5 rebounds all season long. But also 14.5 points per game since the start of the Round of 16. (3.33) Not exactly a dominant performance this week, 7 points on 2-of-10 shooting... Yeah, but he had 7 assists and they were +13 with him on the floor in a five-point win, so he clearly did things the right way. Shots fall, shots don't fall - who cares about that part if he's clearly contributing in other ways at only 20 years of age. (3.66) We do love a youngster here, but he's not the leader of the pack? Nope.
#4 Marcelinho Huertas (La Laguna Tenerife)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? 4-1 in the Round of 16, 8-3 all season long, secured home court advantage in the Quarter-Finals, all that before Patty Mills even arrived in Tenerife, so yes, the answer is yes, they do have a winning record, and no, that doesn't look like it's going to change any time soon. (2) Is he the reason why? Did you watch the Canary Islands Derby? Nah, for real. Did you watch this dude play his heart out just a month after suffering a serious injury? Do you know he turns 43 (yes, forty-three) in a couple of months? MARCE IS ALWAYS THE REASON WHY. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 12.8 points, 5.9 assists per game. Technically, a bit slower than his past two MVP campaigns (16.4 pts, 7.9 ast in Season VIII; 15.9 pts, 6.6 ast in Season IX), but still very MVP-ish. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? One-legged halfcourt floater, sure. (5) Does his CV include firsthand experiences with cougars, bears and eagles? Nope, not really. He's not the leader of the MVP Race. But he's back in this conversation, yep.
#3 RaiQuan Gray (AEK BC)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 5-0 in the Round of 16, 10-1 for the season. (2) Is he the reason why? He's the heart and the soul of this team, but this week, and this week only, we'll have to go with a "no" here. (2.33) WHAT!? It's because there's still another teammate of his that's higher on the list. (2.66) WHAT!? Stop shouting. Yes. That's how strong AEK are this season. Two guys in top three of the MVP Race after... (counting, wait) 16 weeks of action in the BCL.
#2 Ricky Rubio (Asisa Joventut)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 4-1 in Round of 16, 10-1 in Season X. (2) Is he the reason why? Indeed. Go check the next answer, it's gonna be a LOL moment for sure. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 13.6 points, 5.3 assists, 2.9 rebounds, 1.2 steals, and 17.4 efficiency rating per game. Why is it a LOL moment? Because he gets 17.4 eff in under 19 minutes per game. Basically, every minute that he's on the floor, something good happens for Joventut. They are +107 in his 188 minutes this season. Some context: Nobody else on Joventut is higher than +87. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? Probably not, since Cameron Hunt usually does that part. But Ricky will create the environment for him to get a chance to win the game. *Kevin Durant voice* He's tha real MVP. (4.5) But not the actual leader this week? Nope.
#1 Frank Bartley (AEK BC)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? YEP! 5-0 in the Round of 16 - only unbeaten team left - and 10-1 for the season! (2) Is he the reason why? YEP! Leads the Round of 16 in scoring with 20.6 points per game, while shooting 45-43-91 percent. And that 43 percent from deep is on EIGHT attempts per game, so yeah, good luck. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 17.9 points, 3.5 assists, 3.4 rebounds, 16.4 efficiency rating per game for the entire season, but also 19.4 efficiency per game in the Round of 16, second only to Adama Sanogo (Holon, 21.2 in just 22.6 minutes, good for Adama, man). (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? Did you not watch a single Frank Bartley highlight in your life? (5) Does his CV include firsthand experiences with cougars, bears and eagles? YEP!!!
Frank used to be a Cougar, at BYU, then he became a Bakken Bear, and spent a season with the Qingdao Eagles in China. A true wildlife expert.
And also, a lesson on patience in life. Basketball has taken him all over the world with incredible detours, changing schools in the NCAA, playing as a pro in Canada, then Second Division in Spain, followed by top tiers in Germany, Denmark, Israel, Italy, China and Greece.
At 32, he's playing the best basketball of his life. We told you it was a perfAEKt match when he signed with AEK in the summer, so this is us bringing back a tweet from July 1, 2025, to tell you two simple words:
Called it.
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