By Eurohoops / info@eurohoops.net
After a historic campaign with Valencia Basket, Jean Montero has been named the competition’s best young player after winning the Rising Star award. The Dominican point guard stood out throughout the season for his consistency, maturity on the court, and ability to influence high-stakes games, further establishing himself as one of the brightest emerging talents in European basketball.
Official press release: “Valencia Basket guard Jean Montero has been named the 2025–26 EuroLeague Rising Star Trophy winner, becoming the first player to earn both the EuroLeague and EuroCup Rising Star awards during his career. The 22-year-old achieved the milestone in his EuroLeague debut season after leading Valencia to the playoffs for the first time since 2011 and securing home-court advantage in the postseason for the first time in club history.
The Rising Star Trophy, voted on by EuroLeague head coaches, honors the best player each season who was younger than 22 on July 1 of the previous summer. Montero was the undisputed leader in this season’s voting, followed by Saliou Niang of Virtus Bologna, who was second. Sergio De Larrea – also of Valencia – was third, while Momo Faye of Paris Basketball finished fourth.
On the court, Montero was the most productive Rising Star-eligible player across the competition. He led the group in scoring (13.7 ppg.), assists (4.6 apg.) and performance index rating (16.4 PIR), while also topping Valencia in each category. League-wide, Montero ranked 11th in PIR and 13th in assists, and his impact only grew when measured per minute, placing seventh in PIR (30.0 per 40 minutes) and 10th in fouls drawn (7.1 per 40 minutes).
His season included several standout performances, headlined by his Round 27 MVP display in a 99-104 overtime road win at Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv, where he recorded 29 points and 8 assists for a PIR of 38. That effort was one of four games in which Montero posted a PIR of at least 30, including decisive victories over EA7 Emporio Armani Milan and Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens during the stretch run.
Montero arrived in the EuroLeague fresh off being named the 2024-25 BKT EuroCup Rising Star, an award he earned after leading Valencia in scoring (13.2 ppg.), assists (5.3 apg.) and steals (1.7 spg.) during the club’s EuroCup campaign.
A native of the Dominican Republic, Montero began his youth career with Club Mauricio Baez before moving to Spain in the summer of 2019 to join Gran Canaria. After a season starring for youth teams and Gran Canaria’s B team, he made his first-team debut during the 2020-21 season and appeared four times in the EuroCup. He continued his rise with stops at Real Betis Baloncesto in 2022–23 and MoraBanc Andorra in 2023–24, earning Spanish League Best Young Player honors in both seasons before signing with Valencia in the summer of 2024.
In addition to becoming the first player from the American continents to win the EuroLeague Rising Star award, Montero is a three-time ACB Best Young Player winner (2023, 2024, 2025) and was named to the All-Spanish League First Team last season, further cementing his status as one of Europe’s premier young guards.”