Swish & Dunk Season 1: the complete recap

Twenty-two rounds of regular season, fourteen groups from Division 1 down to Division 10, a Swish & Dunk Cup with 160 clubs, a World Cup with eight national teams and a transfer market that moved almost half a billion dollars. Season 1 of Swish & Dunk ended on 16 September 2026 and left behind champions nobody expected, favourites who collapsed, a 55-point game and a trade record that will be hard to beat. This is the complete recap: every division, the Cup, the World Cup, the awards, the stat leaders, the most memorable performances, the trades, the prospects and our grades for the players who shaped the season.

The season in numbers

Season 1 ran from 26 August to 16 September 2026. The Cup opened first, on 26 August, and the league started the next day. The regular season ended on 13 September, the playoffs took three days, and on 17 September Season 2 was already under way. It is the rhythm we described when we explained how manager games have changed in the last 20 years: one game a day, a season that lasts about three weeks, time to think between one matchday and the next.

The format is the same in every group. Sixteen teams play 22 regular season games. The top eight go to the playoffs, with single-game quarterfinals and semifinals and a best-of-three final. Both finalists are promoted and the bottom two go down. In total, league and playoffs produced:

• 2,583 games and 459,403 points, an average of 177.9 combined points per game;
• 42 games decided in overtime and 79 decided by a single point;
• a home win rate of 53.3%: home court matters, but not much;
• 2,004 transfers for a total of $445.6 million, with 18,623 bids on the market.

Every one of those games was simulated possession by possession by the match engine, the same one we describe in detail in how the Swish & Dunk game engine works. Here are the stories they told.

Division 1: Milwaukee does it again

The top flight was the tightest group of the season. The Washington Sorcerers finished first at 19-3, one game ahead of the Milwaukee Warlocks and the Philadelphia Isis, both 18-4. Behind them came Oklahoma City at 17-5, then Denver, Portland and Indianapolis at 16-6. Seven teams within three wins of each other.

The numbers pointed to Milwaukee from the start: a point differential of +813, the best in the division, and a 137-44 win over Houston on 11 September. Philadelphia had the best attack (2,441 points), Denver the best defense (just 1,471 points allowed) and the season's biggest blowout, a 144-40 win over San Francisco on 4 September in which Wolfgang Abt had 34 points, 9 assists and 12 steals.

In the playoffs the seeds held until the final. Milwaukee knocked out Portland and Philadelphia, Washington got past the Los Angeles Freya and then Denver, who had eliminated Oklahoma City in the quarterfinals. The final was the best series of the season. Washington won game 1 99-90 in overtime, Milwaukee replied with a 113-85 rout in game 2, and in game 3, on the road, the Warlocks closed it 92-81. Milo Towns, who had only joined the team on 2 September, was named Finals MVP with 15.7 points per game. Milwaukee had also won the Division 1 title in the preseason: this is a repeat, and the Warlocks are now the team to beat.

At the bottom, the Cleveland Barbarians had the worst season in the game: 1-21, just 1,087 points scored, relegated together with the Houston Anubis. Belgrade and New Orleans take their places.

Divisions 2 to 4: the favourites fall

Division 2: Belgrade and the Cesar Leon deal

The New Orleans Druids dominated the regular season at 20-2, but the title went to the Belgrade Gladiators (19-3). In the final Belgrade won game 1 103-90 in New Orleans, lost game 2 at home and closed it 109-86 in game 3. Honore Lambert was Finals MVP (18.7 points per game in the series), with Nerijus Kavaliauskas adding 18.7 points and 8.3 rebounds. Belgrade's decisive move came in the market: on 10 September they bought playmaker Cesar Leon for $1.59 million from Milwaukee, who had paid $1.60 million for him just two days earlier. Both finalists move up to Division 1.

The individual story of the division, however, belongs to Darius Gedvilas. In 14 games with the Orlando Mystics he averaged 29.0 points, 7.2 assists and 3.9 steals, and on 31 August he scored 55 points against Atlanta, on 17 of 24 shooting with 8 threes and 11 assists: the highest-scoring game of the season. Then, in the final week of the season, Gedvilas was sold to Brasilia in Division 5. It was not enough to stop him from winning both MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in Division 2. Moscow and Zagreb are relegated. Zagreb's season is summed up by a 39-130 home loss to Milan.

Division 3: Bilbao wins, San Diego falls apart

Two teams finished at 20-2: the San Diego Pharaohs, with the best attack in the entire game (2,498 points), and the Bilbao Destroyers. Only Bilbao made it to the end. San Diego, winners of the Cup a week and a half earlier, sold Simeun Nikolic and Gerd Arnold after the tournament, lost Milos Zecic for the final days of the season and were beaten in the semifinal by the Buenos Aires Wolfhounds. The sixth seed also produced the highest team score of the season: 150 points in a win over Las Vegas.

The final was one-sided: Bilbao won 102-85 and 98-74, with Zarko Nedic as Finals MVP (20.5 points and 7 rebounds). The MVP award went to Milos Zecic (20.7 points per game with San Diego). Defensive Player of the Year was Salvador Uribe of Kansas City, a 22-year-old point guard who averaged 22.4 points, shot 50.9% from three and was one of the few players to win the same award in both the preseason and Season 1. The division's best game was Kansas City 123, San Diego 118 in overtime. Ljubljana (1-21) and Cincinnati go down.

Division 4: El Paso comes back

The Tampa Angels won 20 of 22 games, but lost the semifinal to the Columbus Dominators, the fifth seed. The final against the El Paso Marauders started badly for El Paso: a 106-72 home defeat. El Paso then won 90-76 in Columbus and 94-80 at home. Djuro Ercegovac was Finals MVP, while Gerard Vasseur was the top scorer in the series at 20 points per game. El Paso have not stopped winning since: on 26 September they also took the Season 2 Cup.

The division's MVP and Defensive Player of the Year was the same person, Waldemar Muller of the San Juan Captains: 23.1 points and 3.7 steals per game, and a 40-point, 10-steal game against Perth on 3 September. Austin also delivered the biggest blowout of the division, 144-52 over Turin. Perth and San Jose are relegated.

Divisions 5 to 7: Edmonton's 21-1 is not enough

Division 5: Hamburg, the best defense wins

Three teams finished at 19-3 (Montevideo, Qingdao, Brisbane), but the champions were the fourth: the Hamburg Gorillas, 18-4 with the best defense in the division (1,514 points allowed). Hamburg knocked out Beirut and top seed Montevideo, then swept Qingdao in the final: 77-70 on the road and 108-62 at home. Center Lorenzo De Luca was Finals MVP (15.5 points and 7.5 rebounds), with guard Danilo Miskovic leading the scoring at 19 points per game.

The MVP was Joaquin Montero of Qingdao (21 points per game), whose season has a curious start: he played his first game for the Eschilo Lakers, who sold him to Qingdao after a single appearance. Defensive Player of the Year went to Montevideo's Nebojsa Lukic (9.6 rebounds). Montreal (2-20) and Nice go down.

Division 6: Osaka from fifth place

The Brussels Bison (20-2) and the Sofia Knights (19-3) led the regular season. The title went to the Osaka Sentinels, fifth at 15-7. Osaka won in Auckland, beat Kyiv in the semifinal and swept Taipei in the final: 104-86 on the road and 92-89 at home. Finals MVP Helmut Pape averaged 22.5 points and an astonishing 6.5 steals per game in the series.

Division MVP was Taipei's Gunther Schmid (21.8 points, 52.8% from three), Defensive Player of the Year was Faustinas Balciunas of Auckland, who averaged 24.5 points and 3.4 steals and scored 53 points with 8 steals against Tehran. Ottawa and Belo Horizonte are relegated.

Division 7: the Edmonton shock

The Edmonton Enforcers had the best record in the whole game: 21-1. They had the most efficient player of the season, center Pierrick Gaillard (21.3 points, 12.7 rebounds, 59.1% from the field and 51% from three), and a 22-year-old point guard, Daniel Munoz, who averaged 22.9 points. They beat Budapest in the quarterfinals. Then they lost the semifinal at home to the Bucharest Warriors. One game, and a 21-1 season was over.

Bucharest went on to win the final against the Tunis Barracudas: 102-70 in Tunis, 84-97 at home, 103-90 in game 3. Zeno Ferrara was Finals MVP with 23.3 points per game. The division MVP was Tunis's Reinaldo Uribe, 23.5 points per game, 56.6% from three and a 51-point game on 15 of 18 shooting against Porto. Defensive Player of the Year was Xristos Bakas of Winnipeg, who scored 35 points with 10 steals in the final round. Curitiba's Dorian Spruill signed the second-best scoring game of the season: 54 points on 19 of 22 with 10 threes. Kyoto and Helsinki go down.

Divisions 8 to 10: eight champions and a lot of upsets

Division 8: the Eschilo Lakers rebuild

No club used the market like the Eschilo Lakers. Between 26 August and 16 September they completed more than a dozen transfers, including Baltasar Garcia, bought for $1.08 million and resold two days later for $1.14 million, and Marquez Washington, 21 points per game in seven appearances before being sold to Kyiv. The core that remained, with Andrea Esposito at center, Nicola Caruso at point guard and Slavko Dukic, bought from Austin for $1.12 million on 4 September, finished 19-3.

In the playoffs the Lakers were untouchable: they beat Kaohsiung and Fukuoka and then crushed Nassau Ajax in the final, 104-61 and 115-60, the most one-sided final of the season. Dukic was Finals MVP. Nassau, sixth in the regular season, had knocked out Maracaibo (19-3) and Amman (18-4, the best defense in the division), whose forward Omari Dandridge, 22 years old and rated 93, was one of the most efficient players in the game. The division MVP was Eimantas Dagilis of Maracaibo, who averaged 20.9 points and 13.5 rebounds after arriving from Rio de Janeiro, and the DPOY was Fukuoka's Yann Martinez. Wuhan's Matteo Lombardo had a 47-point, 12-rebound, 8-assist game. Rotterdam and Geneva go down.

Division 9: both first seeds out in the first round

In Group A, the Suzhou Cyclops finished first at 17-5 and lost their quarterfinal to Riyadh, the eighth seed at 11-11. The title went to the Jakarta Planets, fifth, who beat the Abuja Ferrets (seventh) 2-1 in the final. Their Finals MVP, Timoleon Christodoulou, had arrived from Antananarivo on 11 September after scoring 50 points in a Division 10 game. The group MVP was Abuja's Nikolas Fiedler (20.2 points and 6.6 assists), who had already won MVP and DPOY in the preseason. The Dubai Centaurs and Tijuana Colonels played the highest-scoring game of the season: 137-130 after two overtimes, 267 points in total.

Group B followed the same script. First-placed Daegu Apollo (18-4) went out in the quarterfinals against the Zurich Huskies, eighth at 10-12, who then reached the final. There, the Panama City Chiefs won 2-1, with Jeffrey Dukes as Finals MVP. The MVP was Daegu's Otto Klein (23.5 points, 49 against Kingston). Lino Caruso won Defensive Player of the Year after moving from Lahore to Luxembourg, where he averaged 24.4 points and 3.9 steals: he is the only player of the season to win awards in two different divisions, since he had also been named MVP in Division 10 for his first half of the season.

The most painful fall was that of the Avignone Warriors: preseason champions of Division 10, promoted, and last in Group A at 5-17. They are back in Division 10, together with The Hague, Sapporo and Kingston.

Division 10: four groups, four stories

• Group A, Niamey Tortoise. Fourth seed, 13-9. In the final they beat first-placed Delhi (18-4) twice, 100-86 and 88-78, led by Finals MVP Manuel Cardenas (21.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists). The group had the season's top scorer, Iginio D'Angelo of Tashkent (26.5 points per game, 583 points in total), and the MVP, Ognjen Dimitrijevic of Monrovia, who scored 53 points in an overtime loss against Honiara.
• Group B, Dar es Salaam Squids. Sixth seed, 13-9, champions with a 2-0 sweep of Bamako. First-placed Maputo went out in the quarterfinals. Center Viktor Dorn, 24, averaged 16.8 points and 10.7 rebounds.
• Group C, Cusco Kudus. The only first seed to win in Division 10: 18-4, then a clean sweep of Lubumbashi in the final, with Finals MVP Meletios Xydias at 25 points per game. The group's MVP was Timoteo Mendez of Freetown: 26.2 points and 71 threes.
• Group D, Goa Flames. The story of the season. Eleven wins and eleven losses, eighth and last playoff seed. Goa won in Kuwait City, beat Kathmandu, and in the final beat Antananarivo 2-1 despite losing game 2 in overtime: 112-84 in game 3. Nikitas Zaharias, 30, was Finals MVP with 20.3 points and 10 rebounds. First-placed SG RioThunder (17-5) went out in the quarterfinals.

All eight Division 10 finalists are promoted to Division 9.

The Swish & Dunk Cup: San Diego's comebacks

The second edition of the Swish & Dunk Cup started on 26 August with 160 clubs from every division. It is a single-game knockout: no second chances, and no protection for the big teams. After eight rounds, it was won by a Division 3 team.

The upsets

The biggest shock came in the second round: the Monrovia Gecko, a Division 10 team, beat the Portland Goblins of Division 1 by 80-79. The Division 9 Alexandria Weasels beat El Paso (Division 4) by one point and then Brasilia (Division 5), reaching the round of 16. In the round of 16, the Beijing Kings of Division 4 beat Oklahoma City (Division 1) 115-94 and in the quarterfinals they destroyed Milan 86-56: a Division 4 team among the last four.

Semifinal and final: two comebacks

San Diego won the Cup twice from behind. In the semifinal against Kansas City they were down 22-5 after the first quarter and 46-30 at halftime. In the third quarter they scored 32 points and allowed 11, then held on to win 84-82. Point guard Gottfried Schwab, who had joined the club only days earlier, finished with 20 points and 8 steals. On the other side of the bracket, Milwaukee beat Beijing 100-66, with Joaquin Prieto scoring 22 points in 21 minutes.

The final, on 3 September, started the same way: Milwaukee led 23-9 after ten minutes. San Diego answered with a 28-11 second quarter, took the lead and never gave it back: 79-70. Milos Zecic played all 48 minutes and scored 18 points with 6 rebounds, Simeun Nikolic added 18 points and 2 blocks, Marcel Bernard 13 points and 8 rebounds. For Milwaukee, Holger Schuhmann scored 15 points in 14 minutes and Norval Haggins had 12 points and 13 rebounds.

The best players of the Cup

• Milos Zecic (San Diego): tournament top scorer with 132 points in 7 games, 18.9 per game.
• Paulius Sabaliauskas (Beijing): 18 points per game, the leader of the Cinderella run.
• Roger Lopez (Milwaukee): 100 points in 7 games, with a high of 29.
• Marcel Bernard (San Diego): 14.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists, with a 30-point game.
• Djordje Jokic (Brisbane): 22.5 points per game and a 37-point game before Brisbane went out in the round of 16.

The best single performances came in the second round: 42 points each for Benedikt Nagel (Bucharest), Urbano Ortiz (Kingston) and Karl Traut (Brisbane).

The World Cup: Spain on top of the world

The Season 1 World Cup brought together the eight national teams with the highest ratings, built from the best players of each country. Just like in the old browser managers, from Charazay onwards, the national team is a showcase for the players you develop in your club. The tournament ran from 28 August to 1 September: two groups of four, then semifinals and a final, both best of three.

The group stage produced the tournament's great disappointment: the United States, the second-highest rated team, lost all three games, two of them by two points (95-97 against Serbia, 90-92 against Lithuania). Greece also went 0-3, conceding 121 points to Italy. Serbia and France finished unbeaten.

The semifinals turned the groups upside down. Serbia won game 1 against Germany 101-64, a 37-point margin, and then lost the next two: 76-97 in Germany and 78-87 at home. Germany, seventh of eight by rating, was in the final. Spain lost game 2 against France but won the other two, 97-67 and 101-90.

In the final, Germany struck first, winning 88-80 in Spain despite 24 points from Javier Hernandez. Spain's answer was brutal: 115-73 in Germany, 42 points of difference. In game 3 Justo Ibanez, the highest-rated player in the game (95), scored 30 points and Spain won 95-70. The tournament's most complete player was point guard Juan Duran: 15.4 points and 2.8 steals per game, and a plus-minus of +108 over nine games. Germany's Gunther Schmid was the top scorer among the finalists (16 points per game, 28 in the semifinal), and Serbia's Djuro Ercegovac averaged 14.3 points with a +97.

A footnote for Season 2: the next World Cup, played in September, was won by France.

The awards

At the end of the regular season each division awards the MVP and the Defensive Player of the Year. The Finals MVP is chosen at the end of the playoffs. Several winners changed teams during the season: the award counts what they did in that division.

The Division 1 double is a story in itself. On 7 September Indianapolis still had Ovidijus Paulauskas, who was averaging 21.7 points and 5 steals per game. Within 48 hours Paulauskas was in Beijing and Indianapolis had paid a record $2.1 million for Elmer Fraide. Both won an award: Paulauskas for the defense he played in Indianapolis, Fraide for a season shooting 70.6% from the field and 62.7% from three.

Stat leaders

Regular season, minimum 12 games. Averages include all the teams a player played for in the season.

The three-point shooting numbers stand out: Elmer Fraide at 62.7%, Pearly Laboone, a center, at 64.2%, Reinaldo Uribe at 56.6%. The engine rewards good shooters with open looks, just as the modern NBA does, as we explained in our piece on how the NBA has changed in 30 years. Teams that built their offense around the three, and set it up with the right tactics such as Pace and Space or the 5-Out, got the most out of it.

The most memorable performances

1. Darius Gedvilas, 55 points (Orlando vs Atlanta, 31 August): 17/24 from the field, 8 threes, 11 assists. The season high.
2. Dorian Spruill, 54 points (Curitiba vs Bratislava, 12 September): 19/22 from the field and 10 threes. Almost perfect.
3. Faustinas Balciunas, 53 points and 8 steals (Auckland vs Tehran, 7 September).
4. Ognjen Dimitrijevic, 53 points (Monrovia vs Honiara, 10 September), in a 102-104 overtime loss.
5. Reinaldo Uribe, 51 points on 15 of 18 (Tunis vs Porto, 13 September).
6. Timoleon Christodoulou, 50 points, 9 assists and 5 steals (Antananarivo vs Siem Reap, 9 September), a few days before moving to Jakarta and winning a title.
7. Wolfgang Abt, 34 points and 12 steals (Denver vs San Francisco, 4 September), in the season's biggest win, 144-40.
8. Angel Montero, 42 points and 11 steals (Seattle vs Tel Aviv, 30 August).
9. Waldemar Muller, 40 points and 10 steals (San Juan vs Perth, 3 September).
10. Matteo Lombardo, 47 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists (Wuhan vs Rotterdam, 5 September).
11. Justo Ibanez, 30 points in the deciding game of the World Cup final.

Player grades

Our grades, on a scale of 1 to 10, for the players who shaped Season 1. They take into account numbers, trophies, the weight of each performance and what was expected given their rating.

The surprises

• Goa Flames: a .500 team, eighth seed, champions. The Cinderella of the season.
• Germany: seventh of eight by rating, eliminated Serbia and went to the World Cup final.
• Beijing Kings: a Division 4 team in the Cup semifinals, after beating Oklahoma City and Milan.
• Osaka Sentinels and Jakarta Planets: both fifth, both champions.
• Zurich Huskies and Nassau Ajax: from the bottom of the playoff bracket to the final, and promotion for Zurich.
• Buenos Aires Wolfhounds: sixth seed, 150 points in a game, beat the Cup champions and were promoted to Division 2.
• Monrovia Gecko: a Division 10 team that knocked a Division 1 team out of the Cup.
• Eschilo Lakers: an aggressive market strategy that worked. 19-3 and the most dominant final of the season.

The disappointments

• Edmonton Enforcers: 21-1, the most efficient player in the game, out in the semifinal.
• United States: second in the World Cup rating, 0-3 in the group.
• Serbia: unbeaten in the group, +37 in the first semifinal game, then eliminated.
• Suzhou, Daegu, Maputo and SG RioThunder: all first seeds, all out in the quarterfinals.
• Tampa, Brussels and Montevideo: 20-2, 20-2 and 19-3, none of them made the final.
• Avignone Warriors: from Division 10 champions to last place in Division 9 and relegation.
• Cleveland Barbarians: 1-21 in Division 1.

The trades that decided the season

With 2,004 transfers and $445.6 million spent, the market was as important as the court. These are the deals that mattered most.

• The record: Elmer Fraide. Listed at $299,288, sold for seven times that after 27 bids. A week later he was Division 1 MVP. The most expensive signing of the season was also the one that paid off best.
• The flip: Cesar Leon. Milwaukee bought him for $1.60 million on 8 September and sold him for $1.59 million on 10 September. He went on to win the Division 2 title with Belgrade.
• The move that won a title: Slavko Dukic. $1.12 million from Austin to the Eschilo Lakers, then Finals MVP in Division 8.
• The most contested auction: Timoteo Mendez. 36 bids, from an asking price of $154,139 to a final price of $996,848, paid by Philadelphia.
• The bargain: Karolis Stankevicius. A 94-rated forward, among the ten best players in the game, sold by Milan to SG RioThunder for $759,654 on the last day of the season, less than half the price of comparable players.
• The investment: Horst Ihle. The number 1 pick of the Division 5 draft, 19 years old with a potential of 93, bought by the Eschilo Lakers for $495,463.

Prospects to watch

The Season 1 draft brought in 224 new players, 16 per group. Most will need seasons of training to become starters, but a few already have the ratings of future stars. Players with a potential of 100 are rare: there are two of them.

Among the young players who already count, keep an eye on Giles Florent (22, 93/96, Denver), Igor Erdeljan (22, 89/96, bought by Oklahoma City for $1.45 million), Reinaldo Uribe (22, 89/94), Lazar Arsenijevic (22, 88/93, Austin) and Neokles Stamatiou (25, 83/97), who has the highest potential of any established player.

The best players in the game

The highest-rated players at the end of Season 1:

1. Justo Ibanez (PF, Spain, 27): 95. The only player in the game at that level, and world champion.
2. Nerijus Kavaliauskas (PF, Lithuania, 28): 94, potential 95. A Division 2 champion with Belgrade.
3. Raymond Meunier (SG, France, 29): 94, potential 95. Preseason Division 1 MVP, sold to Qingdao for $1.56 million.
4. Jose Jimenez (PG, Spain, 24): 94, potential 95. The youngest of the top group.
5. Juan Duran (PG, Spain, 25): 94. The leader of the World Cup winners.
6. Roger Lopez (SG, France, 29): 94. Division 1 champion with Milwaukee.
7. Karolis Stankevicius, Herkus Ramanauskas, Miguel Carrasco, Jovica Hristic and Jules Guerin: all rated 94.

Four of the eleven players rated 94 or higher are Spanish. It is not a coincidence that Spain won the World Cup.

What to watch in Season 2

Season 2 has been under way since 17 September, and the first answers are already in: El Paso won the Cup and France won the World Cup. The questions for the rest of the season:

• Can Milwaukee win a third straight title, with Belgrade and New Orleans promoted to Division 1?
• Will the Eschilo Lakers keep climbing in Division 7, and how quickly will Horst Ihle develop?
• How will SG RioThunder use Karolis Stankevicius?
• Can Edmonton, with Gaillard and Munoz, turn a dominant regular season into a title?
• Who will be the first to develop a potential 100 player into a star?

If you want to be part of the next recap, here is everything you need to know about Swish & Dunk: it is free, it has no pay-to-win, and every trophy in this article was won by managing a team on the court, not by spending money. And if you are coming from other games, our guide to the best basketball manager games explains how it compares.

Frequently asked questions

Who won Season 1 of Swish & Dunk?

The Milwaukee Warlocks won Division 1, 2-1 in the final against the Washington Sorcerers. It was their second straight title.

Who won the Swish & Dunk Cup?

The San Diego Pharaohs, a Division 3 team, beat Milwaukee 79-70 in the final on 3 September 2026, coming back from 9-23 after the first quarter.

Who won the World Cup?

Spain, 2-1 over Germany in the final, with 30 points from Justo Ibanez in the deciding game.

Who was the best player of Season 1?

Pierrick Gaillard of Edmonton had the best efficiency and the most rebounds, Darius Gedvilas scored the season high of 55 points and Elmer Fraide was MVP of Division 1.

What was the most expensive transfer?

Elmer Fraide, from Columbus to Indianapolis for $2,104,991.

Who are the best prospects?

Thierry Garnier (19) and Claude Blanchard (20), both with a potential of 100.

The match engine has been recalibrated against NBA statistics: discover what changed in the new match engine and how it affects your club.

Last updated: October 2, 2026