Following the end of the 2026 NBL season, there was a lot of debate about the end of season awards particularly for the men. Multiple people questioned the criteria for the awards but no answer has ever been given. In this article, we shall delve into some of the concerns of the different stakeholders and possible reforms in the end of season awards.

What is in the FUBA Rules and Regulations Handbook

According to the handbook, the FUBA EXCOM is supposed to appoint and approve an Awards Committee. That committee then establishes a criterion for each category and also makes a list of Nominees. The Committee then forwards the said List of Nominees to be approved by EXCOM. The criterion used by the Awards Committee is supposed to take into consideration the contribution of Team managers, Coaches, Captains and media personalities. The Awards for the season are then determined by FUBA.

According to the rules, these are the following awards that are supposed to be given out. The winning team, first and second runners up, MVPs (both regular season and playoffs), Top Scorer, Coach Of The Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Young (U21) Player Of The Season, Basketball Ambassador for The Season, Most Disciplined Club, Most Defensive Club and Fair Play.

Of these only MVPs, Top Scorer, Defensive Player of the Year, and Fair Play award have been awarded plus the Winners, and first and second runners up. The other awards haven’t been given out and one wonders, why agree (in the Handbook) to give these awards and then not award them. The handbook is updated yearly and if these awards are not going to be given, it only make sense to exclude them from the regulations.

What criteria is followed?

This has been a very big question and there seems to be no answer for it. As seen above, some awards are not given but that is not what has made some people to grumble. The biggest problem has come with the Team of the Season.

First and foremost, this is not in the regulations and perhaps that is an error. However, this team has also brought about a lot of debate. Obviously not all people can agree on one team but a lot of the times the team has been named and a lot of people raise eyebrows.

Case in point, Patrick Rembert, Jonathan Komagum and Anthony Chukwurah were named in the 2026 team of the season. Rembert only played 11 games (in the playoffs), Komagum played 19 games and you can count games in which he was the X factor while it is very hard to remember 1 game in which Anthony was thee man. He also missed most of the first round.

The question about these were, what criteria was used? Was this a team of the entire season? Actually, do the people who select the team watch even half the games? If yes, what did they base on to select these people. Also, which players were next (just outside the five).

Over the years, some people, across all Divisions, who have been given awards, have raised question marks. The MVPs, Defensive Player of the Year and Team of the Season have been were most of the questions have been asked.

Setting a criterion

There is a lot dissatisfaction because of the ever changing goal posts. There are no criteria for selecting the team of the season and if it was there, would it be followed. As per the rules, the regular season MVP is supposed to be from the top 8 teams. Guess what, in 2025, Mpoza Abigail was named the regular season MVP yet her team, Nabisunsa, was not in the top 8. This shows us that either the rules cannot be followed or they forgot.

Nonetheless, a criterion has to be put up. For example, should Patrick Rembert be in the team of the season despite playing just a couple of games (playoffs)? Should players who don’t make it to the playoffs be considered? Players like Chuol Nyuot and Joshua Duallo had by far better individual performances than Komagum and played more games. Should their individual contributions not be considered because their teams didn’t perform as well?

Some people put forth a suggestion that the Team of the Season should just consider only the regular season. Think about this for a second, people would select without caring what happens in the playoffs. Actually when playoffs are considered, there is a lot of recency bias.

Secondly, the players who play or go further in the playoffs get to have a higher tally in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. This also gives them an edge in the statistical aspect because averages are not considered.

The other suggestion was; what if the individual awards are also based on the regular season. That means that whether a player is playing in a team that is fighting for relegation or fighting for the number one seed, they would all have an equal chance of winning the Top Scorer, top rebounder, best 3-point shooter awards etc. However, when a player goes further in the playoffs, there is a big possibility that they get to score more points, pick more rebounds and also perform better in other statistics.

Is the Criterion Important

If this is done, it would help players know ahead of time what they need to do in order to win the Individual awards. Also, if the playing field is leveled, perhaps we would see more competition by players for the Individual awards. Imagine this for a second, it’s the final game week and 3 or 4 players each have a chance of winning the Top Scorer award. Wouldn’t there be some drama?