Super League Basketball is delighted to announce the winner of the Molten Ed Percival Coach of the Year award for the 2025/26 season, following a voting process involving the League’s Head Coaches, Captains and select members of the media.
London Lions play-caller Tautvydas Sabonis takes the title in his debut season as a Head Coach after a very impressive season for the capital club, where they have thus far secured a domestic treble with one title still up grabs on Sunday at The O2.
Coach Sabonis’ roster has been incredible on both ends of the floor. Defensively especially, they have set the standard in SLB, holding opponents to around 73 points per game on average, which is at least 10 less than the next best defensive outfit.
Reflecting on his award win, Coach Sabonis said:
“To be in my first year as a Head Coach and winning this award, I just want to thank everybody in the London Lions organisation, from the players to the management to the staff. If it wasn’t for all of them then I wouldn’t have won this award, so I am very thankful for everybody that we have in this team.
“This is great recognition and I’m thankful for it, but we have one job and one game left so we’ve got to go and finish it off.”
London Lions General Manager Martynas Purlys said:
“Congratulations to Coach Tautvydas on a well-deserved Molten Ed Percival Coach of the Year award.
“In his first season as head coach, he led London Lions to the SLB Trophy, SLB Cup and SLB Championship through sheer knowledge, leadership and dedication. This is an outstanding achievement, of which the London Lions club, the entire organisation and the fans are incredibly proud.”
You can see the full voting record for the Molten Ed Percival Coach of the Year below.
Voters were asked to choose their top candidate for this award, with the most selections overall securing the title.
| Voter | Position | Club | Selection |
| Owen McCormack | Captain | Bristol Flyers | Tautvydas Sabonis |
| Andreas Kapoulas | Coach | Bristol Flyers | Tautvydas Sabonis |
| Fraser Malcolm | Captain | Caledonia Gladiators | Lloyd Gardner |
| Jonny Bunyan | Coach | Caledonia Gladiators | Tautvydas Sabonis |
| Skyler White | Captain | Cheshire Phoenix | Tautvydas Sabonis |
| Ben Thomas | Coach | Cheshire Phoenix | Tautvydas Sabonis |
| Spencer Johnson | Captain | Leicester Riders | Matthew Otten |
| Rob Paternostro | Coach | Leicester Riders | Tautvydas Sabonis |
| Ovie Soko | Captain | London Lions | Lloyd Gardner |
| Tautvydas Sabonis | Coach | London Lions | Marc Steutel |
| Zak Irvin | Captain | Manchester Basketball | Tautvydas Sabonis |
| Matthew Otten | Coach | Manchester Basketball | Tautvydas Sabonis |
| Darius Defoe | Captain | Newcastle Eagles | Matthew Otten |
| Marc Steutel | Coach | Newcastle Eagles | Tautvydas Sabonis |
| Rodney Glasgow Jr. | Captain | Sheffield Sharks | Tautvydas Sabonis |
| Atiba Lyons | Coach | Sheffield Sharks | Tautvydas Sabonis |
| Tayo Ogedengbe | Captain | Surrey 89ers | Tautvydas Sabonis |
| Lloyd Gardner | Coach | Surrey 89ers | Tautvydas Sabonis |
| Anthony Rowe | Media | Not applicable | Tautvydas Sabonis |
| Dan Routledge | Media | Not applicable | Tautvydas Sabonis |
| Drew Lasker | Media | Not applicable | Tautvydas Sabonis |
Further end-of-season award winners will be announced in the coming days and don’t forget you can watch all the action from Sunday’s season-ending Play-off Final at The O2, London, and stay up to date via our social media channels by clicking here.