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jun 02 2026Real Madrid's center claims the award for a sixth consecutive season after receiving the most votes from both the league's head coaches and an expert panel
Edy Tavares continues to reign on defense. Real Madrid's center has been named Liga Endesa Defensive Player of the Year 2025-26 after winning the voting from both panels responsible for deciding the award: one composed of the league's head coaches and another made up of experts and former players.
The Cape Verdean was the most voted option in both groups, accumulating 33 points in total, 18 from the coaches and 15 from the expert panel, securing his sixth consecutive award. In this way, he remains the only player to have his name inscribed in the honors since the award's creation in the 2020-21 season.
The selection was made through voting by two independent panels. On one hand, the Liga Endesa head coaches; on the other, an expert panel made up of Andrés Nocioni, Nacho Llovet, Anicet Lavodrama, Carlos Suárez, Sadiel Rojas, Víctor Claver, Tomás Bellas, Jorge Quiroga (Diario Marca), Colgados del Aro, and 2Colegas.
Each member awarded three, two, and one point to the players who, in their judgment, had stood out most in defensive tasks during the season. Tavares led both votes and extended a dominance that now reaches six consecutive seasons. The award was announced in a special program produced by Marca.com in collaboration with the ACB.
Kameron Taylor (14 points) and Howard Sant-Ross (14 points) completed the podium. Additionally, players such as Brancou Badio (12 points), Ricky Rubio (11 points), and Jonah Radebaugh (10 points) also appeared among the panel's favorites.
Beyond the votes, the numbers once again support the candidacy of Real Madrid's center. Tavares' presence completely transforms his team's defensive performance.
With him on the court, Real Madrid allows nearly 10 fewer points per 100 possessions, and the opponent's shooting percentage in the restricted area drops by more than five percentage points, going from nearly 67% to 61%. Additionally, he is the center with the best defensive rating in the competition, with Real Madrid allowing around 105 points per 100 possessions when he is on the court.
His intimidating ability remains differential. This season he averaged 2.2 blocks per game, his best mark since the 2017-18 campaign and the highest average of his entire Liga Endesa career.
He also set his personal record for blocks in a single game by rejecting eight shots against Casademont Zaragoza in Matchday 5.
Adding to this is a statistic that reflects his constant impact: he records a block approximately every ten defensive possessions. The 2025-26 season has been another chapter in a historic career. Since the 2017-18 campaign, Tavares has led or shared the lead in blocks in Liga Endesa in every season he has played. Only in 2019-20 did he share first place with Ben Lammers, and in 2023-24 with Artem Pustovyi. Previously, he had been the league's leading shot-blocker in the 2014-15 season when he wore the Dreamland Gran Canaria jersey.
With 729 blocks accumulated in his Liga Endesa career, Tavares is now just ten away from surpassing Fran Vázquez (738) and becoming the all-time leading shot-blocker in the competition's history.
