EuroLeague's new all-time PIR leader fittingly earned this round's MVP honor, too
Round 9 MVP: Mike James, AS Monaco
Awards
3 Mins read
A vintage performance on a night that saw him achieve another historic EuroLeague milestone has earned Mike James MVP of the Round honors in Round 9 of the 2025-26 EuroLeague season. James recorded a performance index rating of 37, the highest of any player this week, while leading AS Monaco to an 107-112 overtime win at Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv. In the process, James became the all-time leader in PIR, having now accumulated 5,617 index points for his career, surpassing Nando De Colo (5,587) in first place.
Against Maccabi, James shined with 34 points, making 5-of-11 two-point shots, 4-of-8 three-pointers and 12-of-16 free throws. He also had 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 2 steals while drawing 9 personal fouls. This is the 12th time James has secured MVP of the Round honors in his career, trailing only Shane Larkin (19) and De Colo and Sasha Vezenkov (16 apiece).
Round 9’s next best PIR, 36, belonged to Elijah Bryant of Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv. Bryant had 25 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block and 8 drawn fouls in a 97-109 road win over Dubai Basketball.
Virtus Bologna forward Saliou Niang had a PIR of 35, collecting 18 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block in an 87-76 loss at Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Rounding out the list of best performances are two players with a 34 PIR, Dubai’s Dwayne Bacon and Anadolu Efes Istanbul guard PJ Dozier. Bacon netted 36 points and finished with 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 9 fouls drawn in a loss against Hapoel, while Dozier had 34 points, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in a 93-97 double-overtime loss against EA7 Emporio Armani Milan.
Individual highs: Dwayne Bacon, Dubai, 36 points
Bacon led all scorers in Round 9 with 36 points. Nadir Hifi of Paris Basketball is the EuroLeague’s top scorer with 22.1 points per game.
Virtus’s Niang had 12 rebounds, more than any other player in this round. Nikola Milutinov of Olympiacos Piraeus leads the league with 8.4 rebounds per game.
No player had more assists in Round 9 than Efes guard Shane Larkin, who dished 9 helpers. Three players continue to share the lead in this category, averaging 6.8 assists per game: James, Sylvain Francisco of Zalgiris Kaunas, and Codi Miller-McIntyre of Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade.
Two players had 4 steals this round: Monaco’s Elie Okobo and Olympiacos's Shaquielle McKissic. Hifi tops the steals charts with 1.9 per game.
Semi Ojeleye of Crvena Zvezda led all players with 4 blocks. Walter Tavares of Real Madrid remains the league’s top shot-blocker this season, averaging 1.7 blocks.
There were three double-doubles this round: Niang had 18 points and 12 rebounds, Maccabi’s Jaylen Hoard collected 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Zalgiris center Moses Wright had 11 points and 10 rebounds.