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6 January 2026  4 min read

NBL/WNBL Players and Teams of the Week - 3/4 Jan 2026

Chosen in conjunction with Darren Paul and the FocusHoops team, who assess the best and brightest in D1W, and the BE team, you can have your say on this week’s selections and give a shout-out to the players you think deserve one by using the hashtag #NBL2526. Don’t forget to tag us!

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How it works

Each week, a standout player plus four other worthy selections will be put forward to make the Player and Team Of The Week in both D1M and D1W, paying attention to the following criteria:

• Efficiency
• Stats
• Team and opposition strength
• Periods of influence in the game
• Being on a winning team (exceptional performances from players on losing teams will be considered for TOTW)

Players of the Week

A strong showing from Manchester's Pharroh Gordon earned him the first D1M award of 2026, putting together a double-double outing in Magic's 106-65 road win against Leicester.

His game-high 28 points came on an impressive 78% shooting that included 2/3 from three-point range, adding 10 rebounds, four assists and a steal to a great afternoon's work.

Providing 15 of his side's 29 first-quarter points, plus a pair of assists, Gordon helped the visitors get off to a flying start that would set the platform for an eventual blowout win.

D1W honours go to CoLA forward Eva-Grace Yebila for the part she played in Pride's 57-42 victory against Loughborough.

Working in the absence of fellow forward Adaora Dioramma, Yebila picked up the slack and produced the game's only double-double, coupling 13 points with a game-high 11 rebounds.

Her scoring output came on 66% shooting (6/9 FGs) with six turnovers providing the only knock against what was still a match-winning outing. 

D1M Team of the Week

Pharroh Gordon - Manchester Magic (28pts, 10reb, 4ast, 38eff)

Ryan Martin - London Stars (14pts, 14reb, 11ast, 3stl, 3blk, 31eff)

Diogo Soares - Sheffield Arrows (19pts, 11reb, 4ast, 32eff)

Andre Arissol - Solent Kestrels (25pts, 7reb, 2ast, 5stl, 26eff)

Nojus Zajankauskas - London Stars (32pts, 3reb, 3ast, 2stl, 27eff)

Gordon anchors the D1M team and is joined by a host of worthy picks.

London Stars' duo Ryan Martin and Nojus Zajankauskas both make the line-up for different reasons. No player could top Zajankauskas' 32 points this weekend, whilst Martin amassed a stunning triple-double in the 96-75 win over London Lions II, also providing a trio of both steals and blocks to really stuff the stat sheet.

Andre Arissol owned the highlight stat-line in the weekend's biggest game, dropping 25 points plus seven boards as Solent downed Barking Abbey in Pool B's top four battle.

That just leaves Diogo Soares to round out the five after his efficient double-double in the Arrows' 98-83 win over Teesside, scoring 19 points on 7/9 FGs (77%) to narrowly pip team mate Mahamud Ibrahim.

Honourable mentions

Mahamud Ibrahim - Sheffield Arrows (22pts, 8reb, 27eff)
Miles Felletti-O’Donnell - Teesside Lions (27pts, 6reb, 25eff)
Luke Busumbru - Solent Kestrels (15pts, 7reb, 4ast, 2blk, 21eff)
Kervy Mabaya - Barking Abbey (14pts, 10reb, 2blk, 18eff)
Malik Legania - Leicester Warriors (22pts, 8reb, 3ast, 21eff)

D1W Team of the Week

With only two D1W contests on the weekend, there's no Team of the Week for the latest round of games. That said, we can still recognise some of the standout performances that might have otherwise made the grade.

Chandera Jones-Aryeh (17pts, 6reb, 4ast, 2stl, 14eff) top scored for CoLA in their win over Loughborough, and Yebila's defensive contributions helped prevent former Ipswich forward Louisa Gibbins (14pts, 8reb, 14eff) from having a bigger impact on proceedings.

Bromsgrove narrowly lost out against table-topping Manchester but it wasn't the fault of Rebecca Brindley, who had perhaps the stat line of the weekend in defeat.

Hitting 25 points on 53% shooting that included a pair of triples, Brindley also added six rebounds and five assists to make up a 23 efficiency outing.

Kizzy Spence's 18 points (5reb, 10eff) helped keep Manchester ahead, with forward Remi Idowu (7pts, 9reb, 14eff) leading the way on the glass.

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Main image credit - Shotbya