The graph above shows the percentage of players who have been on the court for over 200 total minutes by their age at the mid-point of each season since the EuroLeague moved to its current format. Over the last 7 seasons, only 53 players 22 years old or younger have played more than 200 minutes in a season, so even if Madar and Jokubaitis are not playing big minutes, relatively speaking, the fact that they have both eclipsed the 400-minute mark this season for playoff teams is quite impressive and adds some interesting subtext to their mid-game encounters.
For obvious reasons, the urgency of the EuroLeague puts a lot of pressure on players to perform and execute. As a result, opportunities for players who are just beginning to learn the pro game and are still developing their skill sets are fairly rare. Even the players who do earn them do not always see extended minutes, but the future of the EuroLeague can nonetheless be found in mid-game stints, emergency situations, and mop-up duty across the league landscape.
Among the other young players seeing significant action this season, Gabriele Procida is among the youngest. He will not turn 21 until June, but he has been a staple of ALBA Berlin's rotation nonetheless. He's coming off an 11-point effort against Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz – among his best efforts in his first season competing at the highest levels. Nico Mannion is in his second season with Virtus Segafredo Bologna and just had one of his best games as a pro, as well, after scoring 17 points and dishing out 6 assists in a loss to Anadolu Efes Istanbul.
Few young players have collected as much experience as Valencia Basket's Jaime Pradilla, who began seeing spot action in the EuroLeague as a teenager two seasons ago. While Pradilla is averaging only 3.7 points over game this season, the fact that he has carved out and maintained a place on the court for Valencia since he arrived there almost three years ago makes him a true outlier.
To say it is hard for teenagers to find a role in the EuroLeague is an understatement. This season, only two players shy of their 20th birthday have taken the floor regularly: Eleftherios Mantzoukas of Panathinaikos Athens and 17-year-old Zaccharie Risacher of LDLS ASVEL Villeurbanne.
Risacher has added his name to one of the EuroLeague's most prestigious lists, joining Luka Doncic, Usman Garuba, Victor Wembanyama, Theo Maledon, Deni Avdija and Matthew Strazel as the lone players in recent history to see significant action before turning 19.
With nearly half of all EuroLeague players each year competing between the ages of 26 and 29 and veterans getting dramatically more action off the bench than developing players, it says a lot about the young talents who manage to earn minutes in the regular season. Even if the Rising Star winner shines brightly some years more than others, it is important to remember that the bar for these players is quite high. That is truer than ever with the level of parity in the league at the moment.