MIES (Switzerland) - Season 11 of the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL is already nearly upon us.
With that in mind, we decided to look back on the last 10 whirlwind seasons of this competition and celebrate the players who have graced our courts and helped to make our first decade so entertaining.
You saw the Team of the Decade, but let's expand it a bit more than that.
Who are the best 50 players in this competition throughout the last 10 trips around the sun?
Now, obviously, this list and ranking are subjective, and of course, there will likely be some of your favorite players that didn't make the list or that you are sure should have been higher up the list, but allow us to explain our logic a bit and also remind you that this isn't an official awards list.
Team success
Individual awards
Longevity
Impact
The following 50 players were chosen and ranked based on the above criteria. We already covered numbers 50-41 here and 40-31 here.
So, without further ado, let's jump into the next 10 names.
#30 Dylan Ennis (Casademont Zaragoza, Galatasaray MCT Technic, UCAM Murcia)
Can anyone really imagine the BCL without Dylan Ennis?
He may not have the trophy cabinet of some of his contemporaries on this list, but rarely has a player's personality and ability been better matched with the competition they are competing in.
From game-winning shots in Zaragoza to becoming one of UCAM Murcia's leading offensive weapons, Ennis has built a BCL career around exactly the kind of impact that is needed to make the Top 30 all-time in the BCL.
His first BCL season with Casademont Zaragoza immediately made an impression. In the club's maiden campaign, Ennis averaged 12.2 points, 3.9 assists and 2.9 rebounds as Zaragoza reached the Final Four.
Remember that walk-off, buzzer-beating floater to give Zaragoza a 93-91 victory at Brindisi and announce Zaragoza as a contender in their debut season? Or that deep 3-ball to win the game over Nizhny Novgorod in November of 2020, when he coined the phrase "30-foot layup" when it came to his mentality for shooting deep shots in clutch moments?
We do, and in case you don't, you will want to watch that video above.
Ennis would go on to play five seasons (so far) in the BCL and amass over 70 appearances across three clubs. The fact that he was named in the BCL Star Lineup Second Team in three of those seasons and guided his teams to two third-place finishes tells us everything we need to know about the consistency and longevity of his impact on this competition.
And don't get too nostalgic yet because we somehow doubt his story with us has finished yet...
#29 Ovie Soko (UCAM Murcia)
Ovie Soko doing Ovie Soko things!
How many times did our socials admin find themselves typing those words before posting a video of Ovie Soko completely dominating an entire sequence of play for UCAM Murcia? Usually, that sequence would look something like this: switch onto a perimeter player, lockdown defense forcing a contested shot, rebound claimed, coast-to-coast dribble past several players, dunk in traffic.
Two seasons in the BCL saw Soko named in two Star Lineups and average 13 points, 7.2 rebounds and 13.4 efficiency. In Season 2, he steered Murcia to the Final Four, earning a place in the Star Lineup in the process. Season 3 saw him guide Murcia through the Qualifiers and into the Round of 16, earning a place in the Star Lineup Second Team.
Ovie wasn't in the BCL for a long time, but wow, did he make an impact. We haven't seen many like him in those two seasons since.
#28 Melvin Ejim (Umana Reyer Venezia, Unicaja)
When we said that we haven't seen many players impact a game like Ovie Soko, it is probably slightly ironic that the next name down this list could.
At his peak, Melvin Ejim absolutely dominated entire sequences of games, especially for Reyer Venezia in the inaugural season of the BCL. Venezia went to the Final Four in Season 1, with Ejim putting up 10.8 points, 6 rebounds, and 13.3 efficiency. He earned himself a selection in the BCL Star Lineup as a result.
Where Ejim really stands out is in his longevity and team achievements in this competition. He's played four seasons, won two BCL titles with Unicaja, reached two Semi-Finals, and picked up a FIBA Intercontinental Cup trophy for good measure.
His career stats in the BCL read 6.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 8.8 efficiency and point to a player who was equally comfortable as a star for Venezia as he was sacrificing his own shots to be a key cog in the Unicaja title-winning machine under Ibon Navarro.
#27 Vince Hunter (Avtodor Saratov, AEK BC, Segafredo Virtus Bologna)
Up next, we have Vince Hunter, who is without question one of the most explosive players ever witnessed in the BCL. Pretty much every highlight you will see in that video below is a lob thrown anywhere near the rim, safe in the knowledge that Vince Hunter would get up there and turn it into a dunk.
But it's not just the highlights with Vince Hunter. It's the end product as well.
He came into the league with Saratov, putting up 14.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 17.3 efficiency, and his best season for AEK saw him record a whopping 18 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 22.8 efficiency.
It was comfortably one of the best individual seasons recorded by a BCL player across our 10-year history. Obviously, it earned him a spot in the BCL Star Lineup in 2019 as well.
It wasn't just the individual achievements that have earned him a spot in the Top 50 either; he was a BCL Champion with AEK in Season 2 and won the FIBA Intercontinental Cup in 2019.
The only question we find ourselves still asking about Hunter's place in the Top 50 all-time is: should he have gone higher?
#26 Bonzie Colson (SIG Strasbourg, Karsiyaka)
When Bonzie Colson arrived in the BCL with SIG Strasbourg, it was one of the first transfers ever that made this BCL editor stop and do a double take. From his first minute on a BCL floor, it was obvious that Colson was one of the biggest talents that had ever played in the competition.
His BCL resume is short, but his peak was about as impressive as it gets. In Season 5, Colson led SIG Strasbourg all the way to the Semi-Finals while averaging 18.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 17.4 efficiency. He was rewarded with the BCL MVP of the Season award and a spot in the Star Lineup.
Colson then spent a second BCL season with Karsiyaka, averaging 15 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 17.8 efficiency. In Karsiyaka's first game of that season, Colson hit a step-back three with 0.3 seconds remaining to beat Hapoel Jerusalem, finishing with 22 points and 13 rebounds.
That was just the way it was for Bonzie Colson in the BCL. If there was a game to be won, there was never any doubt about who was going to go and win it.
His BCL career averages of 16.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 17.6 efficiency tell part of the story. You needed to watch him play to know the other part of the story.
This was a player who could hit a shot over every player on the floor and create a shot against any defense. And much like Dylan Ennis, Bonzie Colson is a player who has us all wondering if his BCL adventure has really finished just yet.
#25 Raymar Morgan (Karsiyaka, Galatasaray MCT Technic)
Raymar Morgan's BCL career might have lasted only two proper seasons, but those two seasons were enough to make him one of the most devastating big men we've seen in the competition. Morgan is another Karsiyaka man like Colson, and another player who has recorded one of the best individual seasons ever in this competition.
His first season with Karsiyaka saw him average 17.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and 20.6 efficiency, earning him a place in the BCL Star Lineup as a result.
Morgan was, at times, ridiculous during Karsiyaka's run to the Final in that first season with the club. He shot 62 percent from inside the arc during the campaign and was comfortably the most dominant big man in the league that season.
We don't have enough bigs on this list, and we're yet to see a big man win the Season MVP or the Final Four MVP. You may argue that Morgan didn't spend enough time in the BCL to make the Top 25, but the fact that he's still probably the closest we've had to a center winning the MVP is enough for us to keep him here to keep the council of big men represented.
#24 David Kravish (Tsmoki-Minsk, BAXI Manresa, Brose Bamberg, Galatasaray MCT Technic, Unicaja)
Before writing this column, we had actually forgotten how many teams and seasons David Kravish has contributed to this league. Five teams (six if you count Avtodor Saratov in the Qualifying Rounds) and eight seasons.
If you are partial to a bit of "Quick Maths" like Big Shaq, that means Kravish has played in 80 percent of our seasons to date. Oh, and he also had 18 rebounds in one game for Galatasaray, which is still the joint-third-highest number ever.
His best individual season came with Bamberg in 2020-21, when he averaged 13.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 18.8 efficiency.
But it was with Unicaja where his willingness to sacrifice for the whole and his team achievements really started to make Kravish stand out from the crowd. In their 2022-23 championship campaign, Kravish was Unicaja's leading player in efficiency at 14.6 and also led the team in rebounding, averaging 11.2 points and 5.3 rebounds.
He was a vital cog in Unicaja's second BCL trophy-winning machine, racking up two BCL championships and two FIBA Intercontinental Cup winners' medals. He also made the BCL Star Lineup in 2024, cementing his place amongst the best bigs we have ever had the pleasure to watch.
His style is no-nonsense, but that mid-range pick-and-pop game is lethal, and don't sleep on his passing game either. His career numbers read 10.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 14.5 efficiency across 83 games.
David Kravish is the textbook definition of consistency and longevity, and unquestionably a very deserving Top 25 player.
#23 TaShawn Thomas (Hapoel Holon, Hapoel Jerusalem, Bertram Derthona Tortona, Le Mans Sarthe Basket)
Ask your favorite search engine or type the question into your favorite AI for players who have been as consistently productive in the BCL as TaShawn Thomas. They won't find many we promise you.
He has appeared across six BCL seasons with four different clubs, with career numbers that currently stand at 12.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 17.1 efficiency per game.
His peak came with Hapoel Jerusalem. In 2020-21 he averaged 17.5 points, 6.2 rebounds and an outrageous 22 efficiency.
Although you could probably argue the season before was even better, when put up 15.4 points, 6.1 rebounds and a remarkable 20.9 efficiency in 17 games. That season saw him named in the BCL Star Lineup alongside Keith Langford, Marcelinho Huertas, Vojtech Hruban and Giorgi Shermadini.
Thomas is Top 10 all-time in scoring at 925 points, sixth all-time in rebounding with 402, and #1 all-time in shot blocking with 85.
As well as being one of the most consistent, Thomas is also one of the most complete and underrated players ever in the BCL.
He scores efficiently, dominates the glass, blocks shots, defends multiple positions, and makes himself useful without needing the ball in his hands every possession. Actually, now that we think of it, Top 23 was probably a bit low.
#22 Errick McCollum (Karsiyaka, Galatasaray MCT Technic)
Is Errick McCollum the most complete scorer we have ever seen in the BCL? Possibly. During Season 9, he averaged 22 points for Karsiyaka in six games.
If he had stretched that out over more games, it would have been the highest scoring average for any player in BCL history.
His first season with Karsiyaka saw him average 18.8 points, 6.5 assists, and 3.5 rebounds. When he's given the responsibility as the team's primary scoring option, McCollum has shown consistently that he is simply unstoppable.
And the longevity argument became even stronger as McCollum continued climbing the BCL's scoring records. During Season X, he joined Kevin Punter and Jerrick Harding among the players with 15 games of 20 or more points, just three games behind the competition's all-time leader.
Harding overtook him in the Final Four, but McCollum still sits in the Top 5.
#21 Jordan Theodore (Banvit, AEK BC, Besiktas)
Jordan Theodore has a pretty good claim to being one of the most important and certainly most memorable players in the history of the first BCL. Not only did he lead Banvit to the Final in the inaugural season, but he was also named the BCL's first-ever MVP of the Season and was selected to the first-ever Star Lineup First Team.
And the numbers back that claim up. Theodore averaged 16.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and a competition-leading 7.5 assists during that inaugural campaign, finishing with 16.5 efficiency over 19 games.
He was spectacular when Banvit needed him most. In the Semi-Final against AS Monaco, Theodore delivered 21 points and 11 assists to drag Banvit into the championship game, after already producing the iconic game-winning layup against MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg in the Quarter-Finals.
He also had 15 assists against Aris in that season, which still ranks joint-fourth all-time for a single-game assists tally.
His overall BCL career eventually produced 14 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 14.2 efficiency per game. Add in the MVP, First Team selection and Final appearance from Season One, and the FIBA Intercontinental Cup trophy in 2019, and Theodore's place this high is more than justified.
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