Darius Brown II has been named MVP of Round 1 in the 2026-27 BKT EuroCup Regular Season, Euroleague Basketball announced on Thursday. The 27-year-old combo guard delivered the highest Performance Index Rating by any player on a winning team in the opening round, posting a PIR of 29 in his first appearance in the competition.
Brown led Dolomiti Energia Trento to a 73-76 victory at the Svyturio Arena against Neptunas Klaipeda. He scored 19 points on 6-of-7 two-point shooting, 1-of-3 from three-point range and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line, adding 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 7 fouls drawn.
The round's top PIR belonged to Javante McKoy of Balkan Botevgrad, who reached 32 in a 98-84 road loss to ratiopharm ulm. McKoy led all scorers with 32 points, shooting 13-of-17 from two, 1-of-3 from three and 3-of-4 from the line, with 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, a block and 7 fouls drawn.
Benjamin Shungu of Riga Zelli followed with a PIR of 28, finishing with 23 points including the game-winning basket in an 86-84 win over Baglietto Derthona Tortona, along with 6 rebounds and 7 assists. Kenny Lofton Jr. of Hapoel Midtown Jerusalem, E.J. Liddell of Aris Thessaloniki and Cedric Henderson of Siauliai Basketball each registered a PIR of 27.
Henderson pulled down a round-high 11 rebounds against the London Lions, while Neptunas's Kristupas Zemaitis handed out 9 assists against Trento. Tyson Walker of Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse and Bryce Jones of Tofas Bursa shared the steals lead with 6 apiece, and Amedeo Tessitori of Umana Reyer Venice blocked 4 shots in a 104-72 home win over Skyliners Frankfurt.
