Two players share MVP of the Round honor this week.
Round 2 co-MVPs: Neal Sako and Sasha Vezenkov
Awards
3 Mins read
Round 2 of the 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season has already seen two players share MVP of the Round honors, as Neal Sako of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne and Sasha Vezenkov of Olympiacos Piraeus each had a PIR 30 in their respective teams' victories.
In just his second EuroLeague appearance, ASVEL big man Sako enjoyed a stellar performance in an 87-85 win over Virtus Segafredo Bologna. Sako was a thorn in Virtus’s side all night long, scoring 19 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, making 2 steals and recording 2 blocks en route to a joint round-high 30 PIR. He shot 9 for 11 on two-pointers and went 1 for 2 from the free-throw line, while 5 of his 11 rebounds came on the offensive end. Sako is the first ASVEL player to be the MVP of the Round since William Howard in Round 12 of the 2021-22 season.
Meanwhile, Vezenkov earned his 10th MVP of the Round honor as Olympiacos defeated Zalgiris Kaunas 74-68, with the forward collecting 17 points and 11 rebounds. Vezenkov was 3 for 4 on two-pointers and 11 for 13 from the foul line, while he also had 1 assist, 1 steal and drew 7 fouls in fewer than 25 minutes on the floor.
The next best PIR, 29, belongs to EA7 Emporio Armani Milan’s Shavon Shields. In a come-from-behind 79-74 win over Paris Basketball, he collected 21 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Dan Oturu of Anadolu Efes Istanbul had a PIR of 28 in a 78-83 loss against Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, posting 21 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks. Rounding out the week's top performers is Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens’s Mathias Lessort, who had 22 points and 6 rebounds for a 27 PIR in a 94-79 victory over FC Bayern Munich.
Individual highs: Tomas Satoransky, FC Barcelona, 5 steals
Isaia Cordinier of Virtus Segafredo Bologna led all scorers in Round 2 with 23 points. Cordinier is the league’s top scorer this season with 19.5 points per game.
Three players had 11 rebounds this round: the co-MVPs Vezenkov and Sako, as well as Panathinaikos forward Juancho Hernangomez. Joel Bolomboy of Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade is leading the way in rebounds with 9.5 on average after two rounds.
Real Madrid playmaker Facundo Campazzo had 11 assists, more than any other player in Round 2. Tamir Blatt of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv tops the charts in assists with an average of 11.0 per contest.
Tomas Satoransky picked up 5 steals, the most in this round. Satoransky and Xavier Rathan-Mayes of Real Madrid are each averaging a league-best 2.5 steals per game.
Twelve different players had 2 blocks in Round 2. Among them is Efes’s Vincent Poirier, who, along with Donta Hall of Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, is the EuroLeague's top shot blocker with 2.0 blocks per game.
There were three double-doubles in Round 2: Sako (19 points, 11 rebounds), Vezenkov (17 points, 11 rebounds) and Hernangomez (12 points and 11 rebounds).