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) Should he drop a hip-hop mixtape, would his name be Nonlegal Rhyme Wiz, as that's his anagram anyway?
(See? Number five is just random.)
#10 Leland Walker (Salon Vilpas)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Nope, 0-1. (1.5) This column is off to a great start this season, huh... Yeah, but hear me out. Leland had games of 29, 33 and 42 points in the BCL Qualification Round Tournaments, then followed it up with 25 points and 8 assists, and 27 points and 9 assists in the first two games of the Finnish League, and went on to have 28 points and 7 assists on the road at AEK BC. So even though they don't have a winning record right now, if/when they get it, Walker will be in the Top 5 here, easily.
#9 Ricky Rubio (Asisa Joventut)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 1-0. (2) Is he the reason why? He is always the reason why. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? Ehm... (3.33) What does that mean? He had 6 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds in their first BCL game of the season, so not exactly as gigantic as some of the others on the list, but still, he's Ricky, and if you expect Joventut to go far this season, you know Rubio will be in MVP contention, for sure. (3.66) ...but he's not the leader at Checkpoint 1? Nope.
#8 Dylan Ennis (UCAM Murcia)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yes, 1-0. (2) Is he the reason why? Of course, 16 points - exactly his BCL average in home games in his career - with 5 assists in just 22 minutes off the bench against Itelyum Varese. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? I just told you. (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 one of his patented 30ft layups. (5) Should he drop a hip-hop mixtape, would his name be Nonlegal Rhyme Wiz, as that's his anagram anyway? Nah. Nanny Slide is the best anagram I can offer for Dylan Ennis.
#7 Marcus Keene (Trabzonspor)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 1-0. (2) Is he the reason why? Went crazy in the fourth quarter and overtime in another thriller against Nanterre 92. Ask me how crazy? (2.5) How crazy? Trabzon were a +17 team with him on the floor. In an overtime game! (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? Aside from that +17, he had 24 points, 6 assists, and an efficiency rating of 26, so yes, count him in. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? Oh you know nothing about Marcus, huh? This dude makes clutch shots at will, think back to him nearly eliminating TJ Shorts and Telekom Baskets Bonn in 2023. (5) Should he drop a hip-hop mixtape, would his name be Nonlegal Rhyme Wiz, as that's his anagram anyway? Nah. But boy-o-boy do we have some flamin' suggestions for MC Marcus Keene: Neck Measure, A Nuke's Creem, Scare Me Nuke, Keen Mac User, and, man, I tell you, you ain't ready for this one... (5.5) Tell me. Mr Sauce Knee! Oh man, can't wait for him to go break ankles in the next game so we call him Mr Sauce Knee on our socials. But yeah, he's not the leader this weke, nope.
#6 Abdoulaye N'Doye (SIG Strasbourg)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yeah, 1-0. (2) Is he the reason why? Strasbourg were +28 in his 21 minutes of action. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? First player in BCL history to have a game with 15 points, 10 assists, and 5 steals in less than 25 minutes of playing time! (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? We don't know yet, because at +38, you don't really know about clutchness, right? They also won one by 12 and lost one by 9 in France, so nope, don't have an answer. But let's just assume he's taking the clutch shot to save the season, because I wanna tell you his hip-hop name. (5) Okay, let's do this then: Should he drop a hip-hop mixtape, would his name be Nonlegal Rhyme Wiz, as that's his anagram anyway? Nope, he's not Nonlegal Rhyme Wiz. But he's... A Looney Bay Dude.
#5 Khalif Battle (Cibona)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 1-0. Hey, quick aside: We had him as Malik Battle in the boxscore, since his full name is Khalif Malik Battle. We changed it to Khalif now. Hope that's okay for you. Sorry for the confusion. (2) Is he the reason why? If you're casually making spot up threes from the logo, the answer will always be yes to this question. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 32 points, 11-of-15 from the field, 6-of-7 from three, 5 assists, just 1 turnover, efficiency rating of 33, so yes, he does 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? Yep. No need to expand here. (5) Should he drop a hip-hop mixtape, would his name be Nonlegal Rhyme Wiz, as that's his anagram anyway? Nope. Best case anagram for Khalif Battle: Bat Lake Filth.
#4 Gytis Radzevicius (Rytas Vilnius)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, defending champs up at 1-0. (2) Is he the reason why? Just him being back in black-and-red, he's the reason why. It's hard to explain if you haven't witnessed it courtside, he's just got that presence that make Rytas fans think they'll win every game. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 21 points, 12 rebounds - ninth career double-double, only Joe Ragland (16) and Marcelinho Huertas (12) are ahead of him on the BCL all-time list there - with 3 assists and an efficiency rating of 30. Beast. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? Nope. (4.5) Whacha mean? He'll get the offensive rebound and tip it back in. Sneaky, too. (5) Should he drop a hip-hop mixtape, would his name be Nonlegal Rhyme Wiz, as that's his anagram anyway? Nope. But he would fill stadiums with his artistic anagram Crazy Guide's Visit. Maybe more of a psychedelic rock career than hip-hop with that name, though.
#3 Jack Kayil (ALBA BERLIN)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 1-0 for the German champions. (2) Is he the reason why? He's not a kid anymore, he's a real leader of this team, and we're so happy to see him back with ALBA BERLIN for another year. So yes, he's the reason why. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 10 points, 9 assists, +19 in just 17 minutes. So if he plays 34 minutes, he'd have 20 points and 18 assists, right? MVP numbers. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? Yeah, he showed us last year he's not afraid to take over, even when they faced Unicaja in the Quarter-Finals, he was the one leading the way. So yes. (5) Should he drop a hip-hop mixtape, would his name be Nonlegal Rhyme Wiz, as that's his anagram anyway? Nope. Don't have anything fancy for his anagram, either. Jay La Kick?
#2 Frank Bartley (AEK BC)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 1-0. (2) Is he the reason why? Man scored 11 points in the last five minutes of a close game in his first game as the reigning MVP of the Season. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 27 points, 8-of-17 shooting, 4 rebounds. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? LOL. (5) Should he drop a hip-hop mixtape, would his name be Nonlegal Rhyme Wiz, as that's his anagram anyway? No. But he could be Bank Art Flyer, because his shots are money anyway.
#1 Willy Hernangomez (Unicaja)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep! 1-0! (2) Is he the reason why? Yep! The big guy in Txus Vidorreta's system will always get the numbers, but this game showed he's a perfect fit. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 23 points, 8-of-8 from the field, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and an efficiency rating of 32 in just 20 minutes of action. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? With the way Unicaja played, not sure they'll need "one shot to save it," but yeah, chances are if they've got a timeout and need a bucket, they'll go through Willy. (5) Should he drop a hip-hop mixtape, would his name be Nonlegal Rhyme Wiz, as that's his anagram anyway? Yes!!! This is actually the reasoning behind the whole anagram hip-hop thingy: Just a few weeks back, there was this viral trend of posting yourself rapping with somebody, and Willy joined in, posting himself as a musical artist, so it's only fitting we found a perfect name for his hip-hop mixtape: Nonlegal Rhyme Wiz.
Bars for days, easy.
There you go, Willy is the leader of the MVP Race!
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