By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Breaking a record shared by Luka Doncic and Carlos Alocen, Jean Montero was named ACB Best Young Player for a third year in a row.
Montero earned 84.6% of possible votes from coaches, players, media, and fans.
Over 27 appearances in the 2024-25 Regular Season, the 21-year-old Dominican point guard went for 15.4 points, 4.9 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.0 steals per contest en route to an average performance index rating of 18.6.
After moving to Spain in 2019 and joining the youth teams of Gran Canaria, he was promoted to the senior squad in 2020. During the 2021-22 season, he played for Overtime Elite. He went on to win his previous Best Young Player awards with Real Betis and MoraBanc Andorra, before signing with Valencia last July.
Beyond the latest Best Young Player nod, he was also the All-ACB Best Young Players team alongside Mario Saint-Supery of BAXI Manresa, Sergio De Larrea of Valencia, Hugo Gonzalez of Real Madrid, and Thijs De Ridder of Surne Bilbao.
On Wednesday, the league announced the standouts among the promising upstarts spread across Spain’s Liga Endesa, arguably the most competitive domestic league in Europe. Following season awards stretch from the Most Valuable Player to the All-ACB Teams and the Best Defender.
With three games left in the Regular Season, Real Madrid sits at 27-4 to clinch first place and thus homecourt advantage throughout the ACB Playoffs 2025. Valencia currently ranks third with a 22-9 W-L tally, trailing second-placed La Laguna Tenerife by two games and one game ahead of recently-crowned Basketball Champions League back-to-back champion, Unicaja.