VJ King, Kiki Herbert-Harrigan headline 2022-23 BJA awards

Image credit: Mansoor Ahmed / ahmedphotos

VJ King and Kiki Hebert-Harrigan both landed Player of the Year honours in the annual BJA awards for the 2022-23 season.

Bristol Flyers’ King edged out Sam Dekker and Caledonia’s David Sloan in the voting from members of the media having averaged 18.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game in the BBL.

“I’d like to thank the BJA for recognising me as Player of the Year, and I’m honoured to be the first Flyers player to win this award,” King said, via release.

“We had an incredible season – the most wins in club history and the highest-ever league finish in the regular season.”

Herbert-Harrigan was ahead of London Lions teammate Holly Winterburn and Sheffield’s Karly Murphy in the WBBL voting to take the award. The former WNBA first round pick led the way for the Lions as they dominated in pursuit of another clean sweep of silverware.

Meanwhile, Jelani Watson-Gayle picked up the Pete Jacques Award for British Player of the Year with the Flyers rookie impressing. Luke Nelson was second in voting with Pat Whelan in third.

The Syd Lipski International Award for the top British performer overseas went to Wake Forest guard Cam Hildreth with averages of 12.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game in his sophomore year. Karlie Samuelson and Gabe Olaseni came second and third, respectively.

London Lions play-caller Ryan Schmidt was named BBL Coach of the Year – whilst also taking the official BBL accolade – with Andreas Kapoulas and Rob Paternostro rounding out the top three in the BJA award.

Full list of winners below:

BBL Player of the Year: VJ King (Bristol Flyers)
WBBL Player of the Year: Kiki Herbert-Harrigan (London Lions)
BBL Coach of the Year: Ryan Schmidt (London Lions)
Pete Jacques Award: Jelani Watson-Gayle (Bristol Flyers)
Syd Lipski International Award: Cam Hildreth (Wake Forest)

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