Vesely's first MVP of the Round award in more than six years.
Round 8 MVP: Jan Vesely, FC Barcelona
A great performance in a winning effort has seen Jan Vesely of FC Barcelona earn Round 8 MVP honors with a PIR of 28, which is a season high for the Czech center and the highest of any winning player this week.
Vesely helped Barcelona down Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 91-68, finishing the game with 17 points on 3-of-7 two-pointers, 3-of-3 three-pointers and 2-of-2 free throws, as well as 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 blocks and 2 fouls drawn. This is the second time that Vesely has hit 3-of-3 three-pointers in a EuroLeague game. The first time came on December 23, 2010, almost 14 years ago, while he was playing for Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade against – curiously enough – Baskonia. This is the fifth time he has earned MVP of the Round honors in his 360-game career, and the first time since Round 1 of the 2018-19 campaign, which is when he earned EuroLeague season MVP honors.
The highest PIR of this round belonged to Gabriele Procida of ALBA Berlin, who stood out in a 92-71 losing effort against Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade. Procida had a career-high 25 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals and 2 blocks for a personal-best PIR of 34. Carlik Jones of Partizan had a PIR of 32, a career best, in his team's 74-71 road loss against Paris Basketball. He had 20 points, 8 rebounds, 10 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 5 fouls drawn. Nando De Colo of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne amassed a PIR of 29 in a 73-77 losing effort against Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, amassing 18 points, 2 rebounds, 11 assists (matching his career high), 2 steals and 5 fouls drawn. Vincent Poirier of Anadolu Efes Istanbul, with a PIR of 25, completes the top individual performances in Round 8. He posted 14 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block as Efes lost 69-81 to AS Monaco.
Individual highs: Nigel Hayes-Davis and Gabriele Procida, 25 points
Fenerbahce’s Nigel Hayes-Davis and ALBA’s Procida were the top scorers in Round 8 with 25 points apiece. Carsen Edwards is the competition's top scorer with 20.1 points per game.
Tyrique Jones of Partizan and Vesely led all rebounders, each pulling down 10 in this round. Neal Sako of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne is first overall with 8.5 per night.
ASVEL’s De Colo and Olympiacos Piraeus’s Thomas Walkup dished 11 assists apiece to lead the weekly standings. Paris playmaker TJ Shorts ranks first in assists with 7.5 per night.
Eight players had three steals apiece in Round 8: Arnas Butkevicius of Zalgiris Kaunas, Fabien Causeur of EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, Iffe Lundberg of Partizan, Chimezie Metu of Barcelona, Kendrick Nunn of Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens, Jordan Nwora of Efes and two ALBA players: Procida and Ziga Samar. Mike James of Monaco is the 2024-25 EuroLeague steals leader with 1.8 per night.
Donta Hall of Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, Kevarrius Hayes of Paris, Aleksej Pokusevski of Partizan and Darius Thompson of Efes each had 3 blocks in Round 8. Khalifa Koumadje of ALBA ranks first with 1.8 blocks per game.
De Colo (18 points, 11 assists), Vesely (17 points, 10 rebounds) and Partizan duo Tyrique Jones (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Carlik Jones (20 points, 10 assists) each recorded a double-double in this round.