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jun 01 2026Real Madrid's small forward has been named MVP of the season after winning the majority vote from players and media, while also finishing second in the preferences of coaches and fans
Mario Hezonja caps off a historic regular season with the Liga Endesa MVP award, in a campaign in which he delivered the best basketball of his career to become the leader of a Real Madrid side that finished atop the standings.
The Croatian player was the preferred choice of players (30 points) and media (35.5). Additionally, he finished second in the preferences of coaches (24) and tied for second place with DeJulius in the fan vote (14).
With a total of 103.5 points, the Madrid player surpassed by a wide margin the 74.5 points of Jean Montero (Valencia Basket) and the 73.3 of David DeJulius (UCAM Murcia).
After making his debut in the Liga Endesa All-League Team in 2024-25, Mario Hezonja repeats as Best Small Forward in the ideal starting five with the honor of achieving, for the first time in his career, the nomination as MVP of the competition.
His has been a record-breaking season. Until this campaign, throughout his entire Liga Endesa career he had been Player of the Matchday twice, something he has achieved three times during this season.
In Matchday 14 he achieved it in the Clásico (30 rating), in Matchday 20 he repeated with higher numbers (35) and in Matchday 29 he put on a truly historic performance. In an unforgettable clash, with a 131-123 final score for the record books, 'Super Mario' began to build his MVP case with 40 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and a 53 rating... in less than 30 minutes!
The first player in twenty years to exceed a 50 rating, the fourth in the century after Luis Scola, Pete Mickeal and Sylven Landesberg, and the best Liga performance by a Madrid player in the 21st century.
From there to the end of the season, which he finished in stellar form in terms of scoring and leadership role in a Real Madrid squad dealing with injuries, his numbers continued to skyrocket until reaching an average of 18.8 rating per game, only behind Trent Forrest's 19.2 and Luka Bozic's 24.3.
This is the most valued Liga Endesa MVP in the last four years, the best reflection of a player who has improved in each of his seasons as a Madrid player: 10.6 rating in 2022-23, 11.2 in 2023-24 and 14.1 in 2024-25 until shattering all his numbers in this 2025-26.
Something similar occurred in scoring. His previous high of 25 points has been surpassed on up to 4 occasions, finishing as the third player with the most points scored (17.5), only surpassed by DeJulius (17.8) and Luwawu-Cabarrot (18.7).
Hezonja appears among the leaders in various rankings: 8th in three-pointers (2.1, with a 36.6% success rate) and defensive rebounds (4); 10th in free throws (4 per game, with an 89.5%, 9th best percentage); 12th in Plus/Minus (+5.4) and 15th in two-pointers made (3.5, with a 55.6% success rate). Likewise, he finished in 18th place in minutes played (23:32), 21st in total rebounds (4.9) and 31st in steals per game (1).
The numbers of the best small forward of the season. The statistics of the 2025-26 MVP.
