Kabengele, Marković, Bonga, Creek and Bacon form the Ideal Starting Five

Dubai Basketball star player Mfiondu Kabengele is the player that received the highest % of combined votes of the head coaches, journalists and fans in the voting for the Ideal Starting Five of the 2025/26 season. He won the total of 12.1% votes and is followed by Bogoljub Marković of Mega Superbet (10.6%), Isaac Bonga of Partizan Mozzart Bet (8.8%), Mitchell Creek of U-BT Cluj-Napoca (8%) and Dwayne Bacon of Dubai Basketball (35.4%).

Jared Butler of Crvena zvezda Meridianbet (7.1%), Yogi Ferrell of Budućnost VOLI (4.9%), McKinley Wright of Dubai Basketball (4.4%), Duane Washington of Partizan Mozzart Bet (4.3%) and Dušan Miletić of U-BT Cluj-Napoca (4.3%) are the ones that follow them.

In the voting of head coaches of AdmiralBet ABA League teams, Mfiondu Kabengele received the highest number of votes, ahead of second Bogoljub Marković and third-placed Isaac Bonga and Mitchell Creek. In the voting of journalists of the AdmiralBet ABA League countries, Isaac Bonga led the way ahead of Bogoljub Marković and Filip Barna, while in the voting of the AdmiralBet ABA League fans, Alfonso Plummer was ahead of Carlik Jones and Duane Washington.

Mfiondu Kabengele – Big man Kabengele is one of the true revelations of the 2025/26 AdmiralBet ABA League season, arriving to Dubai Basketball in the summer from Umana Reyer of Venice, the Italian EuroCup squad, and quickly became one of the dominant forces of the Dubai side in the regional competition, having averaged 13.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and a valuation of 16.1, which was enough to seal him the first place in the Ideal Starting Five voting.

Bogoljub Marković – For Bogoljub Marković, the 2025/26 season has been the fourth in the AdmiralBet ABA League in his career so far, and the one in which he completely established himself as one of the top players of the league. Playing for Mega Superbet, he has been averaging 18.3 points, 9.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and a valuation of 23.8, presenting himself in the best possible light to the broader basketball public and announcing that he has an extremely bright future ahead of him. Besides earning the Top Prospect and Regular Season MVP awards for the 2025/26 season, he earned the spot in the Ideal Starting Five as well.

Isaac Bonga – This season has been the second season in the Partizan Mozzart Bet jersey for German international Isaac Bonga, who has impressed the Belgrade fans with his devoted performances on the courts wherever his team has appeared and has been averaging 10.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists and a valuation of 15 per game in the 2025/26 AdmiralBet ABA League Regular Season.

Mitchell Creek – 198 cm tall forward has only had his second experience with the European basketball this season, following the last season spent at Trabzonspor in Turkey and still, he managed to impress everyone with his first season in the U-BT Cluj-Napoca and AdmiralBet ABA League. He has been averaging 17.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and a valuation of 19.5 in the regional competition this season, which earned him a spot in the Ideal Starting Five.

Dwayne Bacon – A big name as a newcomer in the Dubai Basketball ranks for this season, Dwayne Bacon quickly earned himself a role of one of the undisputed leaders of the Dubai powerhouse, and has convinced the broader basketball public of his quality, as he led his team towards the first place before the Playoffs. This season, Bacon's average in the AdmiralBet ABA League has been 15.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and a valuation of 15.2 per game.

Ideal Starting five awards so far in the regional league:

2013/14 – DeMarcus Nelson (Crvena zvezda mts), Bogdan Bogdanović (Partizan NIS), Dario Šarić (Cibona), Joffrey Lauvergne (Partizan NIS), Boban Marjanović (Crvena zvezda mts)
2014/15 – Malcolm Armstead (Krka), Suad Šehović (Budućnost VOLI), Aleksandar Pavlović (Partizan NIS), Milan Mačvan (Partizan NIS), Boban Marjanović (Crvena zvezda mts)
2015/16 – Jacob Pullen (Cedevita), Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (Mega Leks), Tadija Dragićević (Budućnost VOLI), Miro Bilan (Cedevita), Maik Zirbes (Crvena zvezda mts)
2016/17 – Stefan Jović (Crvena zvezda mts), Charles Jenkins (Crvena zvezda mts), Marko Simonović (Crvena zvezda mts), Novica Veličković (Partizan NIS), Miro Bilan (Cedevita)
2017/18 – Taylor Rochestie (Crvena zvezda mts), Nemanja Gordić (Budućnost VOLI), Džanan Musa (Cedevita), Novica Veličković (Partizan NIS), Uroš Luković (Mornar)
2018/19 – Joe Ragland (Crvena zvezda mts), Jacob Pullen (Cedevita), Stratos Perperoglou (Crvena zvezda mts), Jock Landale (Partizan NIS), Goga Bitadze (Budućnost VOLI)
2020/21 – Jordan Loyd (Crvena zvezda mts), Nikola Ivanović (Budućnost VOLI), Jaka Blažič (Cedevita Olimpija), Marko Simonović (Mega Soccerbet), Filip Petrušev (Mega Soccerbet)
2021/22 – Kevin Punter (Partizan NIS), Jaka Blažič (Cedevita Olimpija), Nikola Kalinić (Crvena zvezda mts), Zach LeDay (Partizan NIS), Kenan Kamenjaš (SC Derby)
2022/23 – Facundo Campazzo (Crvena zvezda Meridianbet), Kevin Punter (Partizan Mozzart Bet), Dante Exum (Partizan Mozzart Bet), Luka Božić (Zadar), Mathias Lessort (Partizan Mozzart Bet)
2023/24 – Miloš Teodosić (Crvena zvezda Meridianbet and Mega MIS), Nikola Topić (Crvena zvezda Meridianbet), Luka Božić (Zadar), Zach LeDay (Partizan Mozzart Bet), Kenan Kamenjaš (Budućnost VOLI and SC Derby)
2024/25 – Filip Petrušev (Crvena zvezda Meridianbet), Kenan Kamenjaš (Budućnost VOLI), McKinley Wright (Budućnost VOLI), Bryce Jones (Igokea m:tel), Sterling Brown (Partizan Mozzart Bet)
2025/26 – Mfiondu Kabengele (Dubai Basketball), Bogoljub Marković (Mega Superbet), Isaac Bonga (Partizan Mozzart Bet), Mitchell Creek (U-BT Cluj-Napoca), Dwayne Bacon (Dubai Basketball)