MIES (Switzerland) - We are now 10 years into the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL, and we have seen some of Europe's all-time greatest players suit up and show out on the BCL-branded hardwood.
We've seen Amar'e Stoudemire bring his NBA All-Star stylings, we've seen multiple NBA Champions like Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers, we've seen European club basketball's most celebrated like Tyrese Rice and Keith Langford, we've even seen a youth prodigy turned World Cup Champion with Ricky Rubio and many many more.
But every Sherlock needs a Watson and every Jordan needs a Pippen. For all their individual brilliance, basketball is still a team sport and the best are always at their best, when they have their best beside them.
So, continuing from our recent trip down memory lane to honor our BCL Alumni doing their thing around the world and asking you to pick out your Team of the Decade, we decided to have a look at the Deadliest Duo's in BCL history.
#10 Chima Moneke and Ismael Bako
Coming in at #10, we have the ultimate feel good factors and leaders of the undisputed, heavyweight vibes team of the decade, Season 6, BAXI Manresa.
Chima Moneke and Ismael Bako were the dunking and defensive double act of the year in 2022 as they rode their underdog spirit all the way to the Final.
Moneke won the 2022 MVP of the Season award and also secured a spot in the All BCL First Team. Manresa, to this day, remain the team that people reference when we talk about a group of players making it about the love of the game, on and off the floor.
#9 TaShawn Thomas and J'Covan Brown
Who could forget Oden Kattash's Hapoel Jersualem machine!?
TaShawn Thomas and J'Covan Brown spent three seasons together between 2018 and 2021, forming the key vertebrae in the spine of one of the BCL's most physical team's ever.
Whilst they never quite delivered on the promise of that team with the BCL title they were undoubtedly capable of winning, Thomas did earn a spot in the Season 4 All BCL First Team and both won several domestic Cups together in Israel.
#8 Amath M'Baye and Raymar Morgan
Coming in at #8, we have another beastly brew of bigs, with Karsiyaka's Amath M'Baye and Raymar Morgan.
The pair reached the Final in Season 5 and together combined to make a frontcourt combo that had everything.
They could stretch the floor and pick-and-pop. The could pressure the rim and pick-and-roll, and don't even think about trying to guard either of them in the low post.
#7 Dee Bost and Zack Wright
Who can forget the Zvezdan Mitrovic's need for speed Monaco team from Season 1?
They were one of the highlights in an inaugural season full of highlights and powered their way to the Final Four in Tenerife, eventually finishing third.
Dee Bost and Zack Wright were the pace setters and the finishing sprinters in that team, putting up north of 11 points and 4 assists each.
To this day, coaches still reference the pace that Monaco team played at as a model to build a team on now.
#6 Will Cummings and James Palmer Jr
Now we meet our first current duo, with Will Cummings and James Palmer Jr suiting up for Galatasaray this season.
Of course, the pair are also the current runners-up from last season's Final Four in the SUNEL Arena, Athens.
These two are the definition of a deadly duo in the guard spots. Cummings can create advantages against any defender and Palmer's height, length and playmaking on both ends make them the ultimate matchup nightmare.
They come in a #6 because they are yet to win the BCL, but watch out for all that changing this season.
Gala have the talent and the coaching staff to get over the line this time around, and if they do, Cummings and Palmer instantly jump into the conversation for Top 5, maybe even Top 3.
#5 Tyrese Rice and Keith Langford
What do we need to tell you about Tyrese Rice and Keith Langford?
We are talking about the two most lethal, lefty, scoring guards in the history of European basketball. And somehow in 2020, the continent decided it was a good idea to allow AEK to pair them up in the same team.
That AEK team overpowered all in their path as they reached the Final in Season 4, with Keith Langford winning the MVP of the Season award in the process.
To this day, we're still not quite sure how they didn't win that Final with all that talent on display. There is of course two very major contributors to that, who we will talk about shortly but none of that should take away from what a joy it was to watch Rice and Langford in the same team, cooking everyone and everything.
#4 Vitor Benite and Thad McFadden
Remember that questions from just a scroll up, "how on earth did AEK not win the BCL in Season 4?"
Well, Joan Penarroya's Hereda San Pablo Burgos, that's how on earth they didn't win. And to be specific, Vitor Benite and Thad McFadden on the wings, relentlessly knocking down shots.
Burgos won back-to-back BCL titles in Season 4 and Season 5, with McFadden winning Final 8 MVP in 2020, and Benite claiming the same honor the following season in 2021.
As a duo, Benite was at time metronomic and ruthlessly able to make the game play to his rhythm, whilst McFadden had an inexplicable talent to make the shots the defense wanted him to take, especially when it started to feel like an opponent was seizing control of the game.
Between them, they had an answer to every problem they faced.
#3 Manny Harris and Kevin Punter
When we use the word iconic for basketball players, it tends to be because the very mention of that player's name is associated with iconic images, and in the BCL, it doesn't get more iconic than Manny Harris and Kevin Punter winning Season 2 of the BCL, in Athens, on the club's 50th anniversary for their first continental title.
Those images after the game, with the fans invading the court will live in everyone's memory forever.
That's not to say that Manny Harris and Kevin Punter aren't #3 on this list by merit.
Harris was the MVP of the Season in 2018, whilst Punter was the top scorer in the same season and also went on to be Final Four MVP for Virtus Bologna the following season whilst picking up a second consecutive BCL title with Virtus Bologna.
#2 Marcelinho Huertas and Giorgi Shermadini
Now we reach the rarified air of the top two, and at #2, we have two players who are almost certainly the best we have ever seen in their respective positions in the ten seasons of this competition.
Huertas is the 2024 and 2025 reigning MVP of the BCL, and also 2022 Final Four MVP, whilst Giorgi Shermadini is the undisputed greatest center in BCL history, and top points scorer of all-time with 1370 points.
They won the Season 6 BCL title together for La Laguna Tenerife and we grown so accustomed to them dominating this league, we have been able to pencil them in for Final Four content and editorial plans for as long as we can remember.
They are, put simply the best big and small, 1-2 punch we've ever seen.
#1 Kendrick Perry and Tyson Carter
With everything you've just heard about Huertas and Shermadini, what in the world does it take to beat them to the #1 spot?
Well, to do that you have to do something ctazy like lead the best team in the history of the BCL to back-to-back titles, whilst also winning Final Four MVP between you in consecutive seasons.
And that is exactly what Kendrick Perry and Tyson Carter did for Unicaja over the last two seasons.
Perry was the 2024 Final Four MVP, whilst his partner in titles, Carter, won it the following season.
Perry also picked up an All BCL First Team berth in 2024 and All BCL Second Team spots in 2023 and 2025.
If you add the pair of Copa Del Rey titles they won together in 2023 and 2025, it's not hard to see how these two ended up at the top of the pile.
On both ends of the floor, the BCL has never had a more dominant duo in the backcourt.
But that's just one writer's opinion. Tell us what you think in the poll below!