2023/24 Best Defensive Player: Branko Lazić
Crvena zvezda Meridianbet guard Branko Lazić has been voted the Best Defensive Player of the 2023/24 AdmiralBet ABA League season in the traditional AdmiralBet ABA League voting by the head coaches of the ABA League teams, the journalists and fans.
Branko Lazić has won the highest number of votes in the traditional voting of the AdmiralBet ABA League head coaches, journalists and basketball fans, as he won the total of 19.6% of the combined votes. He has been followed by Crvena zvezda Meridianbet player Joel Bolomboy (18.1%) and Zadar player Marko Ramljak (14.1%).
The Zvezda player has won the highest number of votes, together with Joel Bolomboy in the voting of head coaches of the AdmiralBet ABA league teams, while taking the second place in both votings of the fans and journalists.
Experienced Crvena zvezda Meridianbet captain has been demonstrating his fighting spirit wherever he has appeared on court and, with his toughness, helped the Belgrade squad towards the first place in the 2023/24 Regular Season. He has been averaging 4.9 points, 1.2 rebounds, 0.8 steals and a valuation of 3.6 per game.
This is not the first such honour for Branko Lazić, who won the Best Defensive Player award two times before – in the seasons 2020/21 and 2021/22.
In the traditional AdmiralBet ABA League voting for the Ideal Starting Five of the AdmiralBet ABA League season and the individual honours, the final results of the voting combines the votes of the head coaches of AdmiralBet ABA League teams (85% of the total voting results), the votes of fans (5% of the total voting results) and the votes of basketball journalists from the ABA League j.t.d. countries (10% of the total voting results).
Best Defensive Player awards so far in the regional league:
2020/21 – Branko Lazić (Crvena zvezda mts)
2021/22 – Branko Lazić (Crvena zvezda mts)
2022/23 – Mathias Lessort (Partizan Mozzart Bet)
2023/24 – Branko Lazić (Crvena zvezda Meridianbet)
