By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Kevin Punter is the Euroleague Basketball MVP of the Month for December presented by Motorola.
Euroleague Basketball named the 32-year-old guard of FC Barcelona as the Most Valuable Player of December on Tuesday.
Per the press release: “Kevin Punter’s spectacular scoring and clutch play have earned him the Euroleague Basketball MVP of the Month for December presented by Motorola. The FC Barcelona guard was the catalyst for his team’s 4-1 record during the month, combining efficiency, leadership, and one unforgettable performance.
Punter led all EuroLeague players in December with 24.4 points per game, shooting 55.1% on two-pointers, 46.9% from three-point range, and 92.0% at the foul line. He averaged 3.0 triples made, 3.4 assists, and 1.8 steals per game while ranking fifth in PIR (23.0) and fifth in average plus/minus (+9.8). Logging more than 32 minutes per contest, he was one of just seven players to average at least 30 minutes for the month.
“The stat of putting in the work every day, that nobody don’t see, that’s the biggest thing that sticks out to me,” Punter told Olivia Harlan Dekker on the EuroLeague & Friends: MVP Talk podcast. “When you hit those numbers, you always just go back to what kind of work am I putting in every day.”
His signature outing came in Round 17, when Punter authored a historic night in Barcelona’s triple-overtime thriller against Baskonia. He scored 43 points – becoming just the ninth player this century to surpass the 40-point mark in a EuroLeague game – and set a club record with 12 two-point field goals. Twenty-three of those points – alongside countless highlights – came in the 3 overtime periods to keep Barcelona alive and then wrest away the win. Punter finished 4-of-7 from deep and a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line, adding 2 steals and posting a PIR of 40 to claim MVP of the Round honors.
“In the moment, when it’s so many overtimes, at least for me, you lose track of what overtime is it again, or what happened in what overtime,” Punter said about the night when he scored 43 points, the fourth most in modern EuroLeague history.
He also explained what helped him drop more than half of those in three extra sessions: “It’s understanding it’s a long, long game. Your time is gonna come at some point. And keeping your mind in the game, keeping the aggressive mindset.”
Punter’s consistency was evident throughout December. He opened the month with 14 points and 6 assists in a win at Crvena Zvezda, followed by 24 points in just 25 minutes against Olympiacos. He added 21 points and 4 assists in Paris and closed the month with 20 points and 2 steals in a hard-fought loss at Fenerbahce.
The MVP of the Month award is now in its 20th season. The winner is named by Euroleague Basketball based on his and his team’s performance during the month in question. The December award was based on the games played between Rounds 14 and 18.
This is Punter’s second MVP of the Month award; his first also came with Barcelona in October 2024. He now joins Juan Carlos Navarro, Ante Tomic, and Nikola Mirotic as the only players to win multiple MVP of the Month honors with the club.
Barcelona’s strong December run has solidified its position among the league’s elite, and Punter’s scoring brilliance will remain central to its push as the regular season heads into its second half.”