Giorgi Shermadini takes Spanish basketball league's Most Valuable Player of the Year title
Shermadini pictured with his MVP trophy on top of Mount Teide, the highest point above sea level in Spain at 3,715 metres. Photo via Liga Endesa.
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Georgian national basketball team and Spanish club Lenovo Tenerife centre Giorgi Shermadini has been awarded the Most Valuable Player of the Year prize of the top Spanish basketball league, receiving the award on the peak of Mount Teide, the highest point above sea level in the country, in a surprise moment on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old was voted for the MVP Movistar award of the 2020-2021 season by players and coaches of the league, in addition to votes by fans and reporters following the Liga Endesa. The ultimate score received by the Georgian was 100, the highest possible tally.
The result saw the Georgian finish ahead of Real Madrid's Walter Tavares and Barça's Nikola Mirotic in the end-of-season award, with the second- and third-placed rivals receiving 65 and 33 points respectively. The league's official summary for the award praised "his brilliant performances" during the season for what has been called "the best season" in the club's history. Tenerife finished third behind Real Madrid and Barça in the league table.
Shermadini was handed the award in a surprise occasion - he was asked to take part in recording a commercial for the team on the Teide peak, with the true intention of the event only revealed to the player in the last moment as the trophy was handed to him by teammate Marcelinho Huertas.
In his comments the 2,17-metre-tall centre said he was "very, very happy" and described how he had received inquiries from his homeland about how Georgian fans could take part in the poll for the prize, remarking that some basketball enthusiasts from Georgia had made Twitter accounts for the first time in order to cast their votes.
The prize follows season-long recognition for Shermadini - known affectionately among fans and pundits in Spain as "Sherminator" - who was named Player of the Day on four different occasions throughout the season, in addition to three MVP of the Month titles.
The Georgian achieved the highest-scoring result of 17 points per game in the league, in addition to Tenerife's best rebounds score of 5.4 per game. He is the first player of the club to take the MVP Movistar award, and follows Mirotic who earned the honour last season.
???? ¡Así ha sido EL TEMPORADÓN de @gioshermadini, #MVPMovistar de la #LigaEndesa!
— Liga Endesa (@ACBCOM) May 26, 2021
1⃣7⃣ puntos
5⃣,4⃣ rebotes
2⃣2⃣,5⃣ de valoración#LigaEndesa pic.twitter.com/gl6lH7LzUr
Born near Mtskheta in central Georgia, Shermadini started his professional career with Maccabi Tbilisi in 2005, with spells at Panathinaikos in Greece, Slovenia's Union Olimpija, Italian club Cantù, Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv and Olympiacos in the Greek league following over the next eight years.
He joined the Spanish league with Zaragoza in 2013 and had further stints at Olympiacos, Cantù, Andorra and Unicaja until 2019. Since then he has been a Tenerife player. The Georgian centre's honours include two EuroLeague championship titles, FIBA Intercontinental Cup, Greek League title and Greek Cup, among other silverware.
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The Georgian national basketball team and the Spanish club Lenovo Tenerife centre Giorgi Shermadini has been awarded the Most Valuable Player of the month prize of the top Spanish basketball league, becoming the player with the most Movistar MVP in the history of the Endesa League with 11 awards.
Georgian national basketball team and Tenerife centre Giorgi Shermadini won his second Intercontinental Cup after his club defeated Sao Paulo in the final on Sunday.
Georgian national basketball team and Tenerife centre Giorgi Shermadini on Friday was awarded the Most Valuable Player of the top Spanish basketball league - Endesa League 2022-2023 season, winning the title for the second time in his career.