By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Saliou Niang was named Most Valuable Player for Round 22 of the 2025-26 EuroLeague Regular Season.
Euroleague Basketball confirmed the 21-year-old forward of Virtus Bologna as the MVP on Saturday.
After being selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 58th overall pick of the 2025 NBA draft presented by State Farm, Niang entered Europe’s premier club competition with Vu Nere and collected his first distinction with the MVP of the Round nod, stemming from a 17-point, 17-rebound double-double against Dubai in Coca-Cola Arena on Thursday.
Per the press release: “A monster performance in a winning effort saw Saliou Niang take home Round 22 MVP honors, having led Virtus Bologna to a 72-80 road victory over Dubai Basketball.
The 21-year-old finished the game with 17 points on 6-of-9 two-pointers and 5-of-7 free throws, 17 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 6 fouls drawn for a PIR of 36, the highest in Round 22. Those 17 boards tied a club single-game record that previously belonged to Rashard Griffith since 2001.
Sasha Vezenkov of Olympiacos Piraeus and Trent Forrest of Kosner Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz each had a PIR of 32. Vezenkov led the Reds to a 66-104 road victory over Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade with 25 points on 6-of-8 two-pointers, 3-of-4 three-pointers and 4-of-4 free throws, adding 7 rebounds and 1 assist. Forrest helped Baskonia beat Anadolu Efes Istanbul 75-89 with 17 points on 4-of-5 two-pointers, 1-of-2 three-pointers and 6-of-6 free throws, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 4 fouls drawn.
Rounding out the list of top performers this round are Elijah Bryant of Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv and Mike James of AS Monaco, both with a 27 PIR. Bryant paced Hapoel to a 73-81 win over LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne with 17 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds and 8 fouls drawn, while James had 23 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 6 drawn fouls in Monaco’s 87-95 win at Paris Basketball.
Individual highs: Saliou Niang, Virtus, 17 rebounds
Duane Washington of Partizan was this round’s top scorer with 28 points. Nadir Hifi of Paris remains the league’s top scorer with 20.3 points per game.
Saliou Niang led all rebounders by pulling down a club-record 17 boards. Olympiacos center Nikola Milutinov is the EuroLeague’s rebounding leader with 7.7 per game.
Baskonia’s Trent Forrest, Codi Miller-McIntyre of Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade and Thomas Walkup of Olympiacos each dished 7 assists in Round 22. Sylvain Francisco of Zalgiris Kaunas leads the league in this category, averaging 6.9 assists.
Vasilije Micic of Hapoel, Nate Reuvers of Valencia Basket, Jerian Grant of Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens and Marcio Santos of Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv each had 3 steals, the most in this round. Monaco’s Alpha Diallo tops the EuroLeague charts with 1.6 steals per game.
Monaco’s Kevarrius Hayes had 4 blocks, more than any other player in Round 22. Walter Tavares of Real Madrid leads the league with 1.9 blocks per game.
Three players had a double-double in Round 22: Niang (17 points, 17 rebounds), Moses Wright of Zalgiris Kaunas (17 points, 11 rebounds) and Dwayne Bacon of Dubai (16 points, 10 rebounds).”