Zurab Talakvadze

Shengelia is strong as ever.

Tornike Shengelia had two games to forget as he was not able to help Georgian National Team to dethrone either Ukraine or Spain in World Cup 2027 qualification games. But the season goes on and so does Toko, while his Barcelona is fighting in both Euroleague and La Liga. And Shengelia is having another stellar season in Eueroleague.

Entering this week, Shengelia is second on his team in points (12.6), sitting just behind Kevin Punter (12.7) and ahead of scoring machine Will Clyburn (12.5). But Toko is leading the Spanish juggernaut in rebounds (5.0), well ahead both Clyburn and Willy Hernangomez (3.8 each). Shengelia is tied with Punter on the assists list for third place (2.8) behind two natural playmakers Tomas Satoransky (4.4) and Nicolas Laprovittola (3.8) and is leading his team by example.

What’s more important, Shengelia, who is having a high usage percentage (as expected) while on the floor, is making his shots with a good efficiency. He is 53.4 percent shooter on his two-point shots, while making 86.8 of his free throws attempts. All in all, very solid stats from Tornike.

He is also among some stat leaders in the whole Euroleague. Tornike is among Top 20 in PIR (MVP race), currently sitting on 20th place and occupies the 18th spot in rebounding. Consider the deep roster of Barcelona and it is becoming more evident, that Shengelia is their most important player to date.

Barcelona is not having a great season, but among Spanish clubs, nobody does. This season Euroleague is much more competitive and deep. The season is longer and teams are stronger. Barcelona (8:5) is clinging on to a play-in place, but the reality is, that Toko and his team are just a win behind the current leaders Hapoel Tel Aviv, Crvena Zvezda and always dangerous Panathinaikos, all with 9:4.

Shengelia will become stronger, more adaptive to this grind it all out season and hopefully, so does Barcelona, which stays one place and win ahead of it’s rival Real Madrid (7:6).

Bravo, Toko!