In the 2025 NBL season, the MVPs for both the men and women shall win 4 million shillings courtesy of Betpawa.

In the previous years, nothing much (monetary) has been awarded and this cash prize is a motivation to some players this year.

As the season winds down, questions have started to be asked.

The biggest one of them is, who will win the MVP?

When you look at the Ladies, only one name comes to mind.

The MVP of the 2023 and 2024, Hope Akello has been head and shoulders above everyone else.

At the moment, she leads in points scored, rebounds (both offensively and defensively), field goal efficiency, top 10 in assists and steals.

Most importantly, she has been very impactful and helped her team to finish as the number one seed and also advance to the semi-finals with ease.

When you look around, there is no other player in the league who has had an impact just like she has.

Where is the problem?

There is a popular belief that the MVP should always come from the winning team.

This brings up the question, what if the best player throughout the season hasn’t won the championship, what happens then?

Do their accomplishments get rubbished and someone from the winning team is chosen just because they won the league?

In the four remaining teams for the ladies, if someone asked you to select a person who can be MVP now, I don’t think anyone can look past Hope Akello.

All the other teams have had player have good games here and there but not consistently and to the level that Akello has had.

We shall be waiting to see who wins the league and ultimately who will win the 4 million.

This brings me to the hard question, who will win for the men?

If we are to follow that popular belief, that means that the winner will come from either City oilers or the Namuwongo Blazers.

When you look at both these teams, none has had consistent performers throughout the season. Most of their success has been from the collective and that makes singling out one person very difficult.

If you look at the City Oilers, they won just 5 games in the first round. Their top performers were Fayed Baale, Joseph Chuma and Edgar Munaba.

However if you compare to the rest of the league, the performance of these players was low and they wouldn’t rank in the top 20 players (performance wise) in the first round.

In the second round, the Oilers improved significantly, winning 7 of the 11 games but once again, there was not a single player that stood out.

Different guys contributed in different games and the addition of Moses Maker also boosted them a lot.

When it comes the post season, their best players have been the new signings, Kurt curry and Chad Bowie plus Moses Maker.

If the Oilers won, do you consider one of those 3 or a player who was around in the regular season but was not outstanding in the league.

That is a big question when trying to select the MVP and different people have different criteria they use.

For the Namuwongo Blazers, they have been a well-oiled machine with every part doing its job.

The Blazers do not have anyone in the top scorers or the top rebounders. They have Joel Lukoji and Tonny Drileba among the top 10 in assists while Joel is also top 10 in steals.

Statistically and performance wise, the Blazers haven’t had one exceptionally consistent performer throughout the season.

In the first round, Moses Mugisha looked like the person who had some stats to back him up but the eye test said something else.

To make it worse, in the post season he hasn’t had much time as Arthur Wanyoto has taken over.

In the playoffs so far, different players have come up huge for the Blazers. Joel Lukoji, Anthony Chwukubuka, Arthur Wanyoto, James Okello, Jimmy Enabu and others who have contributed here and there.

If the Blazers won the league, who would you select as the MVP?

One person who many people thought would crack the list is Franck Nyembo of Sommet who has been consistent since he came in the league.

However, he played just 9 games in the regular season and was eliminated in the semifinals, does that mean he can’t win?

Honestly, this year’s MVP race is tight, not because certain players are fighting for it but because we don’t know who is in the race despite being in the finals.

Who do you think should win?