The 2021-22 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season was special for a multitude of reasons, but for two players in particular it was particularly memorable, as FC Barcelona’s Nikola Mirotic and Anadolu Efes Istanbul’s Shane Larkin recorded the two highest single-season performance index rating (PIR) scores in the competition’s history.
PIRs of Mirotic, Larkin went off the charts in 2020-21
Mirotic managed to record a PIR of 765 across his 38 games in the competition in 2021-22, as he was awarded with the EuroLeague MVP after helping Barcelona finish with the best record in the regular season. However, Mirotic and Barcelona came up short in the Final Four, losing to Real Madrid in the semifinal.
Larkin, meanwhile, was not too far behind, ending up with a PIR of 728 after 39 games in the 2021¬-22 EuroLeague season. The 29-year-old was able to play a decisive role in helping Efes secure back-to-back EuroLeague titles, as they recovered from a turbulent regular season campaign to then emerge victorious in the Final Four, beating Olympiacos in the semifinals before finding a way past Real Madrid in the Championship Game.
The curious thing about Mirotic and Larkin’s impressive individual seasons in 2021-22 is that they have both beaten the previous record, which had been held by former Real Madrid guard Luka Doncic since the 2017-18 season, as he had a PIR of 711, 54 less than Mirotic and 17 less than Larkin.
What’s more, the offensive output of some of the league’s star players has risen to such a level that four of the top seven PIRs of all time were recorded in the 2021-22 season. In addition to Mirotic and Larkin, AS Monaco’s Mike James and Olympiacos Piraeus’ Sasha Vezenkov also ended with PIRs of 686 and 675 respectively last season, which puts them in sixth and seventh all time.
What these figures show is the importance of being on a successful team, as it allows the players to demonstrate their ability, play more games and record a higher PIR. Naturally, if these players’ teams have more possessions as a result of being better than their opponents, and if they manage to reach the Final Four, that will allow the likes of Mirotic, Larkin and Vezenkov to record higher PIRs.