Rising Stars Round 28: Hifi, Montero and Tubelis Lead the EuroLeague's Under-24 Charge

Hifi Leads Round 28 Among Under-24s as Young Stars Match League Elite

Nadir Hifi was the standout under-24 performer in Round 28, posting 21 points, three assists and a 20 efficiency in Paris Basketball’s road game at FC Barcelona. The 23-year-old guard tops the season-long efficiency rankings among players aged 24 or under and continues to produce at a level that puts him in the same conversation as the league’s established stars. Round 28 underlined the depth of young talent across the EuroLeague: Hifi, Jean Montero of Valencia Basket and Azuolas Tubelis of Zalgiris Kaunas have led the under-24 cohort all season and remain the faces of the league’s rising stars.

Youngsters Compared: Hifi, Montero and Tubelis

Among under-24 players, Hifi leads in both scoring (19.46 PPG) and efficiency (17.35) over the full campaign. He is a high-usage guard who can create and finish, and his 3.65 assists per game show his playmaking growth. Montero sits second with 15.00 efficiency and 13.04 points, and his 4.52 assists make him the most creative of the three—a pure point guard who can also score in bunches, as he showed with a 38 PIR in Round 27. Tubelis rounds out the top three with 13.18 efficiency and 12.04 points, and his 4.86 rebounds per game make him the best glass-eater of the trio. All three are central to their teams’ offences and have logged heavy minutes; Tubelis is the only one to have played every round so far (28 games).

How the Youngsters Stack Up Against the Whole League

Hifi’s 17.35 average efficiency places him among the top ten players in the EuroLeague this season—ahead of many veterans and comparable to stars like Moses Wright (15.64) and Juancho Hernangomez (13.14). Montero’s 15.00 and Tubelis’s 13.18 also rank inside the league’s top 20 for efficiency, so the under-24 leaders are not just “best of the young”; they are genuine league-wide contributors. Sasha Vezenkov (23.44) and Nikola Milutinov (20.56) still set the bar at the very top, but the gap between the best youngsters and the rest of the league has narrowed. Paris, Valencia and Zalgiris all rely on these three for significant offensive load, and their teams’ results reflect it.

Top Single-Game Performances by Under-24s This Season

The best single-game performance by any under-24 player this season belongs to Jean Montero: a 38 efficiency in Round 27 against Maccabi (29 points, eight assists, four rebounds), which ranks 14th among all single-game outings in the league. Saliou Niang of Virtus Bologna had two monster games—36 PIR in Round 22 (17 points, 17 rebounds) and 35 PIR in Round 9—putting him in the season’s top 30 for single-game efficiency. Nadir Hifi cracked the top 60 with a 32 PIR in Round 4 (29 points, five assists, four steals) and has had multiple 29–30 PIR nights. Azuolas Tubelis’s best was a 27 PIR in Round 26 against Monaco (26 points, seven rebounds), and Matteo Spagnolo of Baskonia added two 28-PIR games. The under-24 group has produced several of the season’s most explosive individual showings and is no longer just “promise”—it’s production.

Round 28 in Context: Hifi Carries the Young Flag

Round 28 did not feature a historic under-24 explosion like Montero’s 38 in Round 27, but Hifi’s 20 PIR at Barcelona was the clear highlight among youngsters. No other under-24 player reached that mark in the round, and it kept Paris in the hunt despite the loss. As the regular season winds down, the narrative is clear: Hifi, Montero and Tubelis are the three pillars of the EuroLeague’s young talent, each leading his team in usage and impact. They compare favourably to each other—scorer, playmaker, big—and to the league as a whole. Round 28 was another reminder that the league’s future is already here.