© Pahnke
When Gordon Herbert gathered his men on Friday morning at 11 a.m. on the court of Madrid’s Movistar Arena, he delivered two very important messages. Both pieces of news concerned Carsen Edwards, the outstanding top scorer for Bayern’s basketball team, who had led the German champions through a strong EuroLeague campaign all the way to Madrid, to the Play-In Final against Real.
Back injury sidelines the guard
The two messages perfectly illustrate the range of what has been a nearly typical Bayern season, swinging lively between celebration and drama—and at times even verging on minor sports tragedy:
First: On Friday afternoon, Carsen Edwards was named to the 2024/2025 All-EuroLeague First Team. He is only the second player from a Bundesliga team to be selected to the top five of Europe’s premier basketball competition, following FCBB captain Vladimir Lucic (2020/21). Second: As of Friday morning, it was clear that Edwards would miss the game on Friday evening. Due to a back injury, he will be unavailable to Bayern for the coming weeks.
Edwards had already played through the opening Play-In game against Red Star Belgrade (97:93 OT) despite initial discomfort. In the Bundesliga, Herbert had rested the powerful guard (14.9 PPG) multiple times during the season—Edwards sat out five of the 27 games. The 2024 Finals MVP’s situation is now being continuously re-evaluated.
Second-best scorer of the EuroLeague
In the EuroLeague, the 27-year-old Texan has been Bayern’s record-setter this season. On average, the explosive go-to guard scored an impressive 20.5 points per game, ranking second behind the presumed MVP Kendrick Nunn of defending champion Panathinaikos (21.1). Never before has a FCBB player posted such scoring numbers.
Edwards also set personal bests this season in rebounds (2.3 RPG), assists (3.3), and steals (1.0) in his third EuroLeague year. He scored 30 or more points five times; during the 99:84 win in Berlin, he posted a career-high 34 points as that round’s MVP (Round 23). With 2.9 made three-pointers per game, he also ranks second in the EuroLeague in that category, just behind Nunn (3.1), and ahead of third-place Andi Obst (2.8).
“Carsen had an outstanding EuroLeague season—he absolutely deserves this great honor,” said Herbert on Friday.
In addition to Edwards and Nunn, Nigel Hayes-Davis (Fenerbahce Istanbul), TJ Shorts (Paris Basketball), and Sasha Vezenkov (Olympiakos Piraeus) were also voted into the All-EuroLeague First Team by media, media representatives, coaches, and team captains.
FC Bayern Basketball congratulates Carsen Edwards warmly on this special recognition and wishes him a speedy recovery.