MIES (Switzerland) - It's time to continue the MVP Race for the 11th 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), Marcelinho Huertas (VIII, IX), and Frank Bartley (X) 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) When he was born, was Montell Jordan's This Is How We Do It topping the charts, paving the way to life in basketball?
(See? Number five is just random. And yes, this was The Basketball Song for all of us growing up in the 1990s, don't look it up.)
#10 Gytis Radzevicius (Rytas Vilnius)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Nope, 1-1. (1.5) So... Why is he here then? Because, at some point, Rytas Vilnius will figure it out, have a winning record and Gytis will be a double-double machine who leads them to it, and we'll point to this article and tell you "yep, we told you" because he's their MVP right now, and they are the defending champions. (5) Just curious, what song was topping the charts when he was born? Gytis was born on July 17, 1995. Waterfalls by TLC was #1, and that's another banger.
#9 Adama Sanogo (Hapoel Maoz Daniel Holon)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Nope, 1-1. (1.33) So... Why is he here then? Because his average efficiency rating per game is 29.0 after a pair of appearances. First player with 25+ pts nad 5+ blk in a single BCL game, too. (1.66) Got it, will be #1 if he keeps this up and Holon get a winning record, right? Right. (5) Just curious, what song was topping the charts when he was born? Born February 12, 2002. Usher's U Got It Bad was #1 then, edging out not one but two Ja Rule songs: Always on Time ft. Ashanti and Ain't It Funny ft. Jennifer Lopez. Good times.
#8 Zoltan Perl (Falco-Vulcano Szombathely)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Nope, 1-1. (1.5) This column is off to a great start... Yeah, yeah, sure. Anyway, the all-time leader in BCL in games with at least 20 points, and the all-time leader in consecutive games with 10+ points. Zoltan is Mr Consistency, and if Falco have a Cinderella run in them, he'll be back in the MVP Race. (5) Just curious, what song was topping the charts when he was born? Born July 28, 1995, so still Waterfalls by TLC.
#7 Maxence Lemoine (SIG Strasbourg)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Nope, 1-1. (1.5) Oh my lord... Come on, it's fine. He's the teenager on the list, born in 2007 and off to a spectacular start to the season: 9 points and 9 assists vs. Legia Warszawa, followed up by 21 points and 5 assists on the road in Istanbul against Galatasaray MCT Technic. Yes, that makes him the leading candidate in our Best Young Player award race. (5) Just curious, what song was topping the charts when he was born? Best way to tell you how young a person is: You were repeating the -ella-ella's and the -eh-eh's of Rihanna's Umbrella when Maxence was a newborn.
#6 Joe Wieskamp (ALBA BERLIN)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yeah, 2-0. (2) Finally! Is he the reason why? Big in the fourth quarter against Igokea m:tel, pouring in 14 points in that period to keep 8,721 fans happy in Berlin. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 17.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 19.0 efficiency rating, while shooting 7-of-14 from beyond the arc. So yes. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? It would be a smart thing to do, yes. Just read the Igokea line again if you need proof. (5) When he was born, was Montell Jordan's This Is How We Do It topping the charts, paving the way to life in basketball? Nope. Born on August 23, 1999, when Christina Aguilera told everybody she's a Genie in a Bottle, baby.
#5 Enoch Cheeks (Windrose Giants Antwerp)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 2-0. Also, 6-0 in all competitions, including winning the BNXT Supercup, leading the BNXT League at 3-0, leading their BCL group at 2-0, while averaging 104 points per game. (2) Is he the reason why? Absolutely. Elite defender, energy guy, and is doing a lot of scoring now in his second season with the Giants. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 20.0 points, 8-of-15 threes, 8.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 22.5 efficiency rating per game. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? Makes the shot, steals the ball, blocks the shots, wins it, sure. (5) When he was born, was Montell Jordan's This Is How We Do It topping the charts, paving the way to life in basketball? Nope. Janet Jackson's All for You was #1 on April 15, 2001. That's a bit surprising, honestly. Shaggy's Angel was #1 just before that, that's not surprising.
#4 Mohamed Diarra (Cholet Basket)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 2-0. (2) Is he the reason why? He played a total of 42 minutes in the BCL this season. Cholet were a +30 team in that period. So yes, he's the reason why. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 18.5 points, 7-of-10 threes, 8.0 rebounds, 25.0 efficiency rating per game. Dominant. (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 he's shooting 65 percent from the field, 70 percent from three, and 100 percent from the charity stripe, this feels like a yes. (5) When he was born, was Montell Jordan's This Is How We Do It topping the charts, paving the way to life in basketball? Nope. Born on January 1, 2000. Oh man, this song was elite!!! Rob Thomas providing the vocals for Carlos Santana's Smooth, what a time to be alive!
#3 Nicolas Laprovittola (Asisa Joventut)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 2-0. (2) Is he the reason why? Well, obviously. Plenty of clutchness shown in a close one against Telekom Baskets Bonn, we're still talking about his assist to Emir Sulejmanovic. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 13.5 points, 4.0 assists, he's just warming up. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? Sure. Or, you know, dishing out clutch assists to his bigs or Ricky Rubio. Yes, Ricky Rubio is his teammate. Yes, somebody allowed the two point gods to unite. (5) When he was born, was Montell Jordan's This Is How We Do It topping the charts, paving the way to life in basketball? Nope, he was born on January 31, 1990, when Michael Bolton's How Am I Supposed To Live Without You was the song of the moment. But this was close, because Pump Up The Jam by Technotronic was #2, and that's the Space Jam song, so yeah, in our own bizarre world of MVP Race checkpoints, this is a sign that Lapro is close to being the MVP.
#2 Willy Hernangomez (Unicaja)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 2-0. (2) Is he the reason why? Let me tell you the numbers in a couple of lines. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 16.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, +29 in 39 minutes played, efficiency rating of 24.0 while playing 19.3 minutes per game and shooting 11-of-16 from the field. What!? (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? If such a game happens to Unicaja, sure. (5) When he was born, was Montell Jordan's This Is How We Do It topping the charts, paving the way to life in basketball? Nope. I Swear by All-4-One dominated the charts on May 27, 1994.
#1 Marcus Keene (Trabzonspor)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep! 2-0! (2) Is he the reason why? Yep! Even when he has a slower scoring day, he's there to find his teammates, evident by 6 assists in 17 foul-troubled minutes against Sabah BC. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 14.0 points, 56-57-100 shooting splits, 6.0 assists, just 1 turnover committed in 50 minutes with the ball in his hands, +15 with him on the floor, 17.0 efficiency rating per game. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? You have not watched Marcus Keene play, have you? (5) When he was born, was Montell Jordan's This Is How We Do It topping the charts, paving the way to life in basketball? YES! Nothing says "your kid will be a basketball player" such as Montell Jordan's anthemic hit blasting from the speakers while baby Marcus is opening his eyes for the first time.
Marcus was born on May 6, 1995, and just kept telling everybody This Is How We Do It wherever he played, from Texas to Hawaii and back, from Italy to Estonia, France, Ukraine, China, Greece, and finally Türkiye.
Always an underdog, and yet, always the top scorer of everything. He averaged 18.1 points in his only full BCL season with Strasbourg in 2022-23, don't be surprised if he tops that in 2026-27.
There you go! Marcus Keene is your MVP Race leader!
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